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CONTENTS 


PAGE 

THE CASTAWAY: 

I. A Fireside Romance 5 

II. At the Forester’s Lodge 17 

III. A Breach Between Brothers 28 

IV. Gone but not Forgotten 43 

V. The Chance Meeting 51 

VI. The Sailors’ Christmas 6G 

VII. The Prodigal’s Return 82 

VIII. In the Home of the Merchant Prince 91 

IX. An Ill-mated Pair 106 

X. Snug Harbor 110 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


123 



4 







1. A FIRESIDE ROMANCE. 

HE last rays of the setting sun 
were lingering in the great hall 
of Craneycroft, discounting the 
blaze of light from the open fireplace. 
Before the fire sat Elsa Wing steeped in 
meditation upon her present station in life 
and speculation as to her future. 

Elsa was a girl without other means of 
livelihood than those of her own earning. 
She had spent but a few months in the 
position of companion to Lady Crane, 
mistress of Craneycroft, who treated her 
with an air of condescension that stung 
her to the quick. Elsa's proud heart often 
rebelled, but being endowed with the 
power of self-control, she went about her 
duties without showing any signs of re- 
volt, making herself, on the contrary, so 
agreeable to the old lady as to have al- 
ready become her favorite. 



THE CASTAWAY 


With the young woman, however, the 
task of serving had grown irksome, and 
she began to have well-defined plans for 
her own happiness in a little home of her 
own. It was upon these plans her mind 
was engaged as she sat staring fixedly 
into the fireplace, with no eye to the play 
of sunbeams as they etched her shadowy 
profile in the center of a square of golden 
mosaic on the wall. 

Her eyes shifted to a letter in her lap 
which she had just perused. It was from 
Eric Branning. The few weeks he had 
spent on a visit in these parts before going 
away for the winter had sufficed to con- 
firm an attachment between them. Not 
that she had any definite intentions in that 
direction, but merely from a natural de- 
sire to please and attract had she become 
the object and center of the young man^s 
affections. Heretofore she had exercised 
her maidenly charms in a modest way only 
as a natural instinct, but henceforth she 
thought proper to engage the attention of 
6 


A FIRESIDE ROMANCE 


some likely young admirer for a more 
serious purpose. 

Although Erie had failed to elicit any- 
thing like a definite pledge of troth from 
Elsa at their parting, nevertheless he ap- 
peared to have taken a hesitant word from 
her and by sheer force of a willing fancy 
construed it little by little into a hard and 
fast promise. This according to the tone 
and trend of his ardent letter. Elsa chose 
to leave his faith undisturbed for the time 
being, relying on the future to point the 
way for her when the moment of final 
decision should come. Meanwhile she 
justified her course by the fact that no 
promise had been given and that a possi- 
ble estrangement between them would in- 
volve no breach of faith on her part. 

Eric was a sensible young man, who 
husbanded his resources and watched his 
opportunities. In Elsa's mind the pros- 
pect of a comfortable and care-free life 
by his side weighed heavily in his favor. 
He was a man of forceful will and a 


7 


THE CASTAWAY 


tenacity of purpose which gave her a sense 
of security. Quite different was her im- 
pression of Eric’s brother, Helmer Bran- 
ning, whose flighty and impetuous tem- 
perament inspired no confidence in his 
ability. He was given to building castles 
in the blue sky, a young knight errant 
who might prove a valiant fighter of wind- 
mills. Elsa Wing smiled at her own mus- 
ings, and there came a tender look into 
her eyes at the very thought of Helmer, 
— that mere boy, who might never turn 
out to be any man at all, how could she 
give a serious thought to such as he? 

At that very moment Helmer Branning 
entered the room. He was agreeably sur- 
prised to find her sitting alone at the fire- 
side. He brought with him a wave of cool, 
fresh air from the outside ; in his eyebrows 
and his faint suggestion of a moustache 
there was hoarfrost which quickly changed 
to little beads of dew in the warmth of 
the room. 

Elsa turned to view him as he stood tall 
8 


A FIRESIDE ROMANCE 


and flushed and smiling before her, and 
the tender look in her eyes did not change. 
At this sign of encouragement he dropped 
suddenly down on the fur rug at her feet, 
conscious of taking liberties which she 
would not have tolerated in anyone else. 
When he leaned his head upon her lap, 
Elsa let that pass, mentally arguing this 
show of familiarity into a kittenish act 
of an overgrown boy. 

*‘What have you there he inquired, as 
he happened to touch her pocket and heard 
the rustle of paper. 

''A letter,'' she said, adding immediately 
by way of diverting his attention, ^'but 
how about those verses you promised me?" 

“They are still unwritten, but you shall 
have them," he evaded. “Just now I am 
more interested in that letter — who is 
it from?" 

“That isn't for Paul Pry to know. He 
had better get busy with those verses." 

Elsa smiled and sought to toss it off 
with a jest. She did not deem it entirely 
9 


THE CASTAWAY 


judicious at this time to inform the 
younger brother of her correspondence 
with the elder. 

''Miss Elsa Wing!’’ The young man 
pronounced the name with the mock for- 
mality of resentment. 

^'Master Helmer Branning,” she replied 
in the same tone, her eyes glittering archly. 

The suggestion of boyishness forced 
from Helmer a scoffing little laugh. 

"I’ll wager you’ve brought the verses,” 
Elsa went. on. 

"Suppose I have — what then?” 

"Then you’ll give them to me at once.” 

"And you will tell me who the letter is 
from ?” 

"Well, that all depends on the quality 
of your verses,” she parried. 

He shook his head as much as to say 
that she was impossible, secretly admiring 
her meanwhile for her ready wit and her 
ability to give and take. With a show of 
hesitation he unbuttoned his coat and drew 
from an inside pocket a slip of paper. 

10 


A FIRESIDE ROMANCE 


Elsa instantly snatched at it, but he 
guarded it as though it were a rare treas- 
ure and glanced up at her with a look that 
had something besides playfulness in it. 

^‘Don't you dare to laugh at my verses 
he warned. 

*‘That will depend on the vein the poet 
himself has struck,’' she replied. 

He looked her squarely in the face with 
a sober manliness in his eyes which she 
had never before seen reflected there. 

“Well,” said he, solemnly, “if the lines 
are laughable, then laugh, but if you do, 
I shall never laugh again.” 

She smiled faintly at the exaggeration 
in his words, underrating the seriousness 
with which they were spoken. He handed 
her the slip of paper, intently watching 
her face while she was reading. When 
he saw astonishment, then emotion de- 
picted there, he was satisfled. On the 
paper he had penned a little poem of pas- 
sionate love, fresh and virile in its phras- 
ing. 


11 


THE CASTAWAY 


‘‘Why, you are a poet, Helmer,^’ ex- 
claimed Elsa with delight. 

‘Tf so, I well know who gave the in- 
spiration.” 

Her eyes looked past him into the glow- 
ing brands, preferring not to meet his. 

"T, too, know,” she said. ^‘No living 
mortal, but genius alone inspires the poet.” 

''Genius,” he repeated. "Or Muse. Well, 
what is her name?” 

"Don’t ask her name. Just follow her 
guidance. If you pick a flower to pieces 
in order to analyze it, you deprive your- 
self of the enjoyment of its beauty and 
fragrance.” 

"You are right,” he conceded vaguely, 
abandoning himself dreamily to the charm 
of the moment. 

The sun had set, and the glow of the 
fire alone lit up the hall in the gloaming. 
Elsa realized the hazard of the situation, 
but knew not how to recall the young 
dreamer from his romantic mood. 

Just then the door opened and Lady 
12 


A FIRESIDE ROMANCE 


Crane entered. For a moment she eyed 
the confidential pair with a surprised look. 

Elsa rose at once without any sign of 
embarrassment. Helmer, on the other 
hand, blushed like a young girl. Lady 
Crane shifted her glances from one to the 
other without saying a word, then took 
a seat and motioned to the others to sit 
down. Helmer did so instantly, but Elsa 
not until she had pushed a hassock under 
the old lady's feet, thrown a shawl over 
her shoulders, placed a cushion at her back, 
and performed sundry other little services 
for her comfort, chatting pleasantly and 
unconcernedly all the while. 

Lady Crane, while appreciating these 
little attentions, did not permit them to 
affect her view of what her eyes had just 
witnessed. 

The atmosphere of the room was sur- 
charged. 

In a little while Helmer found some 
pretext to leave. Then Lady Crane took 
Elsa to task. 


13 


TIJE CASTAWAY 


'‘Are you two engaged?’^ she queried 
abruptly. 

“I engaged to Helmer! — Lady Crane, 
on what grounds do you base such a sus- 
picion,” Elsa responded with all the dig- 
nity at her command. 

“You are in the habit, then, of granting 
your gentlemen callers the privilege of 
leaning fondly against you in that fash- 
ion?” the elder lady pursued her inquiry 
with acerbity. 

“Not at all,” Elsa replied airily, as 
though the charge were too extravagant 
to be taken in earnest. “But Helmer is 
still a boy, hardly to be classed with gen- 
tlemen as yet.” 

“Not so very boyish, either, to my way 
of thinking. He is past twenty-one,” the 
old lady retorted. 

“And I am twenty-six,” Elsa quickly 
replied. 

“Yes, I know very well that you are too 
old for him,” Lady Crane went on in tart 
tones, “but that would not prevent him 
14 


A FIRESIDE ROMANCE 


from becoming attached to you — to his 
own misfortune. I know Helmer Bran- 
ning from his childhood and think too 
much of the young man to have an old 
girl set her traps for him without enter- 
ing my protest. Furthermore, I do not 
tolerate love-making in my home. You 
will have to desist or leave.^' 

The old lady finished her, lecture with a 
scathing look. 

Elsa did not find a ready reply. Her 
cheeks were pale, but her eyes scintillated 
with injured pride. The insult was too 
grievous to be borne in silence, yet shrewd 
forethought stayed her tongue. A wordy 
outbreak at this moment, she knew, would 
cost her her place instantly, and probably 
more, for if Eric should learn the cause 
for the sudden loss of her position, his 
affections would doubtless cool. Helmer, 
on the contrary, would surely prove a gal- 
lant knight in her distress, but then — 
who would stake all on the chivalry of a 
fickle boy ? Elsa crumpled Ericas letter 
15 


THE CASTAWAY 


and Helmer’s couplets in her pocket while 
drawing the comparison that disposed of 
her doubts. , 

“Forgive me, if I have offended in any 
way,’’ she apologized with low voice and 
humble mien. “Lady Crane will have no 
further cause for dissatisfaction with me 
— that I promise.” 

And Lady Crane graciously forgave. 


16 


II. AT THE FORESTER’S 
LODGE. 


RIC and Helmer Branning were 
joint owners of a farm, named 
Bergdale, which they had inher- 
ited from their father. This they man- 
aged well, Eric furnishing the brains and 
keeping the accounts, while Helmer pro- 
vided chiefly man-power, often working 
harder than any day-laborer in fleld or 
forest. 

'‘Just let me know what there is to do 
next, and Ifll do it,’^ was his usual remark 
to his brother whenever any work had been 
flnished. He was a lover of nature and 
enjoyed to live his life out-of-doors. To 
him following the plow-tail or swinging 
the scythe was as honorable an occupation 
as any other. He scouted any and all 
protestations on the part of his friends 
17 



The Castaway 2. 



THE CASTAWAY 


that such menial duties were unbecoming 
to a gentleman. 

That winter Helmer was managing the 
farm alone. Eric had conceived the idea 
of opening a shop in Stockholm for the 
sale of wild game. This Helmer looked 
upon as a needless catchpenny enterprise 
in view of their sound financial condition, 
but the elder brother shrugged his shoul- 
ders at such lack of business acumen and 
started for the capital at once in order to 
set himself up in business. All went well 
beyond his own expectations. This sur- 
prised no one, for from his boyhood Eric 
was known for his ability to drive a bar- 
gain and double his money. 

'Tt's a fine thing after all to have such 
a business partner; one grows wealthy in 
a moderate way without a hand's turn," 
Helmer remarked one day to Elsa. 

‘‘Yes," she rejoined, “but is that the best 
way to make a man of you and teach you 
to rely on your own powers?" 


18 


AT THE FORESTER^S LODGE 


Helmer stretched his sinewy frame to 
its full height. 

“I am something of a man now, don’t 
you think?” he replied. 

‘‘No; just a big boy,” she said laughing. 

He was nettled by her disparaging opin- 
ion of his manhood; and it occupied his 
mind all next day while he was busy haul- 
ing cordwood from the forest. 

So preoccupied was he with the thought 
of what Elsa had said that he came near 
driving straight past the forester’s lodge 
without noticing Brita Reiner, his play- 
mate from childhood, who stood on the 
doorstep, evidently expecting to catch his 
eye. In the last moment, however, he 
looked up and saw the girl. 

“Hello, Brita,” he called to her as he 
stopped the horse. “Haven’t you a nice 
cool drink for the perspiring son of toil?” 
he added in a jocose vein. 

Brita’s face brightened. With a pleas- 
ant nod of her pretty head she vanished 
through the door. The next moment she 
19 


THE CASTAWAY 


reappeared with a glass of fruit-juice and 
water which she handed him, watching 
him smilingly as he drank. 

“Tell me, Brita, am I just a big boy — 
a child he demanded after finishing the 
draft. 

“A child she exclaimed in surprise. 

She was a girl still under eighteen. To 
her the tall young fellow of twenty-one 
was a man indeed, and as likely a young 
gentleman as she knew of, to judge from 
the approving twinkle in her eyes. 

Before the girFs gaze he began to feel 
his manly dignity restored. 

“No, you don't think so," he added with 
satisfaction. “Well, neither do I. Did you 
ever see a child with muscles like these? 
Feel of them]" He knit his arm in the 
sleeve till it bulged with the mass of thong 
and sinew. Brita clutched the knotted 
upper arm with a woman's admiration of 
manly strength. He laughed. 

“Don't be afraid. It will never harm 
you. Take a good grip." 

20 


AT THE FORESTER’S LODGE 


She gripped it with all her might. 

“Pshaw — is that your best?” he chal- 
lenged. “Well, you are a child, but never 
mind, you are a fine and dutjful lass to 
be taking care of the house and the whole 
family all by yourself.” 

“I take no credit for that. What else 
have I to do?” Brita made her protest 
with a modest smile that brought out a 
dimple in her left cheek. , 

“But isn’t this a tedious life for you to 
lead?” he continued. “I never see you 
enjoying yourself.” 

“There is nothing tedious about work, 
and in a home there is lots to do,” she 
replied cheerfully. 

“There is a plenty, I have no doubt,” he 
agreed. “I am sure there must be more 
to do indoors than out. These winter days 
a farm like Bergdale doesn’t keep a man 
very busy. I am taking lots of time with 
this load of wood, you notice.” 

“But you have other work besides,” the 
girl ventured with a hesitant look. 

21 


THE CASTAWAY 


‘‘What, if I may ask r’ 

“You are writing verses on spare time.” 

“How do you know?” 

Elsa showed me such a sweet little poem 
you had written.” 

“Did she show you that?” His face 
clouded as he spoke. 

“And didnT she have your permission ?” 
inquired Brita, her smile vanishing sud- 
denly when she saw the effect of her words. 

Helmer was visibly irritated. “Well,” 
said he, “I didnT take a promise of her 
not to show it around, thinking that need- 
less. I thought she would understand. 
Has she shown it to others, do you know?” 

“I don’t think so, for she let me copy 
it only on condition that no one else should 
see it,” Brita explained reassuringly. 

“You have a copy then?” 

“Yes, can’t I keep it?” 

“Oh yes, if you like. — Good-bye,” he 
said curtly, with lowering brows. 

With a crack of the whip he was gone. 

Brita walked slowly back from the road 
22 


AT THE FORESTER^S LODGE 


and entered the cottage with a sinking 
sensation about the heart. Nothing seri- 
ous had taken place, yet everything seemed 
so changed from a moment ago. 

Shortly after noon Elsa Wing dropped 
in for a visit, bright and cheerful as was 
her habit. 

'‘Now, Brita, bring out the goods and 
ril help you make your new dress,^' she 
ordered with a gesture as if clearing for 
action. 

The younger girl brought the goods, and 
Elsa was soon busy cutting out the pieces 
by pattern. She worked so fast that Brita 
grew slightly apprehensive, though she 
admired her deftness of hand. 

“Aren’t you afraid you are cutting that 
wrong?” she would ask. 

“Oh no, don’t worry,” Elsa assured her, 
wielding the scissors with a steady hand. 

As the two girls were proceeding with 
the basting, Brita suddenly broached the 
delicate subject that was on her mind. 


23 


THE CASTAWAY 


^'Elsa, you ought not to have shown me 
those verses/^ she said. 

‘‘Oh, HelmeEs, — and why not?” 

^^He didnT like it.” 

'‘You told him, did you?” 

“Why, yes.” 

“You little goose !” 

Both worked on in silence for a while. 
Then Brita spoke again. 

“Elsa, do you like Helmer?” she asked 
abruptly. 

“Why, of course.” 

“I mean — do you really-truly like 
him?” The question was put timidly and 
with a flush on the face of the speaker. 

“Certainly. You couldn't like anybody 
just in fun, could you?” 

Brita was flustered and at a loss how 
to express what was weighing on her mind. 
After stitching in silence for quite a while, 
she said with a burst of feeling: 

“Oh, if you only knew how good Helmer 
is!” 

“I have eyes, too,” Elsa jested. 

24 



"You are a fine and dutiful lass to be taking care of the house 
and the whole family all by yourself." (Page 21.) 






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AT THE FORESTER’S LODGE 


Brita remained very serious. 

''But you don’t appreciate him fully. I 
am afraid you show your admiration more 
than you feel it.” 

There was an instant flash in Elsa’s 
eyes. She was stung by the sharp point 
of a truth expressed by her girl friend 
with no intent to give pain. In self- 
defense she gave a thrust without calcu- 
lating how painful a wound it might in- 
flict. 

^'What makes you so anxious about Hel- 
mer? One might think you are in love 
with him.” 

She regretted her words as soon as they 
had passed her lips, for she saw the in- 
stant effect. Brita started as from a shock, 
then dropped her head like a wounded bird. 

Elsa was not a heartless girl. She felt 
for her younger friend. Seized with a 
desire to ease the pain caused by such 
harsh dealing with a delicate subject, she 
began to make amends. 

"Please, don’t be offended at me for 


25 


THE CASTAWAY 


guessing your secret/^ she pleaded tender- 
ly. ^'An attachment for a clean, sturdy, 
handsome young man like Helmer is noth- 
ing for a girl to be ashamed of. I have 
been dangerously near falling in love with 
him myself, I frankly admit, but then I 
saw the folly of it all, being so much older 
than he. But you are just the right age 
for him. You two would make a fine pair.” 

“DonT talk that way, please don’t,” said 
Brita, her face changing from pale to red. 
With a smile Elsa leaned over and kissed 
her, despite her resistance. 

‘‘You must look to your interest, girlie,” 
she urged patronizingly, in an effort to 
smooth out Brita’s ruffled temper, mean- 
while giving her god advice. “You will 
win him, I am sure, just so you use tact. 
You have no idea how easily a young man 
is caught.” 

Brita sat silent. The knack of attract- 
ing suitors was not a part of her modest 
maidenly nature. She was more likely to 


26 


AT THE FORESTER^S LODGE 


set up a barrier against the other sex by 
her very fear of seeming forward. 

‘‘Let me tell you something/^ resumed 
Elsa in a confidential tone, “but you must 
not breathe it to a soul — just yet: I am 
to be engaged to Eric when he comes home 
in the spring.” 

“Oh, Elsa, I hadnT the slightest suspi- 
cion,” exclaimed Brita in complete sur- 
prise, adding in the same breath, “Does 
Helmer know that?” 

“No; but he will be informed when Eric 
comes.” 

“Why not before?” 

“I donT want it known until then, and 
besides, why should Helmer know, in par- 
ticular? Now, remember, this is abso- 
lutely confidential. The matter is not en- 
tirely settled, you understand, but there 
i^ no doubt of the outcome.” 

“Poor Helmer!” muttered Brita, forget- 
ting her own feelings at the thought of 
the shock in store for the young man. 


27 


III. A BREACH BETWEEN 
BROTHERS. 

HE following spring Eric returned 
home. The first evening he and 
Helmer sat talking in the great 
hall at Bergdale. When the sun had set 
and twilight came on, Eric lit the lamp 
at once. Dreamy moods and romantic 
fancies were not for him, twilight musings 
least of all. 

True to his commercial bent, he took up 
business matters first of all. After having 
rendered an account of the shop in Stock- 
holm, almost tiring his brother out with 
endless details, he demanded to know 
everything that had been done at home 
during his absence. True, Helmer had 
written him an occasional letter relating 
to his management of the farm, but these 
being too perfunctory and void of detail 
28 



A BREACH BETWEEN BROTHERS 


to meet the requirements of the trained 
business man, Eric now had many ques- 
tions to ask. When these matters finally 
had been disposed of the two brothers sat 
smoking their pipes in silence. 

At length Eric spoke. 

'‘There will soon be a mistress here at 
Bergdale — what do you say to that?'' 

“A mistress?" Helmer queried. 

“Yes. I am betrothed and expect to be 
married before next fall," Eric explained. 

“You don't say? ^To whom? A Stock- 
holm girl, I take it." 

“No, she lives near here. Guess." 

Helmer did not care to guess. He shook 
his head with an impatient toss. 

“Elsa Wing," announced Eric. 

The brother sprang to his feet. 

“That's not true," he protested vehe- 
mently. 

Eric eyed him in surprise. 

“You doubt it. — On what grounds?" 

“Because she . Well, it is not possi- 


29 


THE CASTAWAY 


ble. There must be some misunderstand- 
ing/^ 

''Nonsense, Helmer,’^ retorted the elder 
brother. "I have her permission to an- 
nounce our engagement shortly after my 
return home. It is down in black and 
white, in a letter penned by her own hand, 
and, furthermore, the promise was re- 
peated and sealed with her own lips only 
a little while ago. So that is settled once 
for all — unless she proves untrue.’’ 

"Untrue,” Helmer repeated, echo-like. 

"What do you mean?” Eric demanded, 
rising to his feet, visibly irritated. 

The younger brother stood before him 
crestfallen and so utterly undone that Eric, 
suspecting the cause, was seized with com- 
passion. At this moment, however, Hel- 
mer resented sympathy. 

"Don’t mind what I have said,” he 
pleaded in a voice that grew harsh in spite 
of his effort to speak calmly. 'T am not 
quite myself to-night. All these business 


30 


A BREACH BETWEEN BROTHERS 


details have set my brains in a whirl. I 
must go out and cool off.^' 

With these words he hastened from the 
room, lest he should again lose his self- 
control. Eric watched him go in the di- 
rection of the woods and disappear in the 
hazy gloom of the spring night. 

The clock struck ten. It was too late, 
or Eric would have gone at once to Craney- 
croft to confront Elsa with the charge of 
having played him false. So Eric resumed 
his seat, relit his pipe, and plunged into 
the vortex of his own d;houghts. After a 
puff or two, he forgot all about his pipe, 
and that friend of silent contemplation 
went out. 

At sunrise, the dew sparkling in the 
grass, Brita Reiner crossed the yard at 
her home. Suddenly she heard the rus- 
tling of leaves and the cracking of dry 
twigs from the wood just across the road. 
She turned to look, and her eyes instantly 
lit up with interest. It was Helmer who 
31 


THE CASTAWAY 


strode briskly by. One glimpse of his 
moody countenance told her all. 

'^Eric has already told him/^ she thought 
to herself, with a pang of mental agony. 

She had the morning chores to do, then 
the preparation of breakfast. Contrary 
to her custom, she went about her duties 
absent-mindedly as in a dream. While 
busy out of doors that morning, she would 
halt at intervals and cast a long look in 
the direction where Helmer had just been 
seen. 

The sound of footsteps again reached 
her ears, this time from the road. Eric 
Branning passed by without noticing her. 
He looked pale and agitated as he hastened 
on, turning in at the gates and hastening 
up the drive to the manor house. Shortly 
after, she saw him leave Craneycroft, and 
as he passed she noticed that his visage 
had not brightened. Again she paused to 
watch for Helmer’s return, in the hope 
that he would come to her for comfort 


32 


A BREACH BETWEEN BROTHERS 


and sympathy, as was his wont in their 
childhood days. 

But he did not come. He roamed aim- 
lessly about the forest, and for once the 
charm of the woodlands in all their early 
morning freshness and glory was power- 
less to captivate the eyes and mind of the 
young nature-lover. 

Helmer gave not the slightest heed to 
the course of his ramblings until he found 
himself unexpectedly in the park sur- 
rounding Craneycroft. His first impulse 
was to hasten off as from a plague- 
stricken region, yet some unseen power 
arrested his steps. 

He saw a sight never witnessed by him 
before, — Elsa Wing in tears. She came 
toward him along the sandy walk. When 
she finally looked up and noticed his pres- 
ence, she gave him a crushing look and 
turned back without a word. 

He grew perplexed and began to ransack 
his memory for some word or act on his 
part that might have incurred Elsa's dis- 
33 


The Castaway. S. 


THE CASTAWAY 


pleasure, but found none. Then he has- 
tened after her and, catching up with her, 
asked point-blank why she was crying. 
He was beside himself with anxiety at 
sight of her tears, and agreed to anything 
that would bring her comfort. 

This she recognized, and her practical 
mind at once set about framing a plan. 
She gave him her hand, which he unin- 
tentionally pressed with such violence that 
the girl's face twitched with pain. 

‘"Helmer," she said, addressing him by 
his Christian name for the first time, 'T 
have been entirely frank with you, have 
I not?" 

He nodded mutely. 

'T have had my reasons for so doing," 
she pursued, withdrawing her hand from 
his strong grasp. ‘^Having been for some 
time past secretly betrothed to Eric, I have 
looked upon you as a future brother. I 
realize now that it was thoughtless on my 
part to treat you as I have done. I did 
not surmise that others might misunder- 
34 


A BREACH BETWEEN BROTHERS 


stand my motives and interpret my con- 
duct in. a way to blacken my character to 
Eric. This has been done, and now Eric 
mistrusts my affections. This is the cause 
of my grief, and that cause must be re- 
moved, or I will be unhappy for life.” 

She finished with a sob. There was no 
longer bitterness in her tears, only pro- 
found sorrow; and for Helmer she had no 
anger, just a helpless appeal. She had not 
mistaken his chivalrous character. 

''Don't cry, Elsa,” he pleaded in a voice 
husky with tears but resolute withal. "I 
will clear you.” 

Tear-stained but hopeful, Elsa's eyes 
sought his determined face, and as her 
look bespoke her gratitude, she gave him 
her hand to press in confirmation of his 
pledge. Distrusting his power of self- 
control, Helmer dared not grasp it, but 
with a gallant Idow hastened away. 

On his way home he strained his mind 
to the utmost in planning his action, for 
this was to be the crucial test of his loy- 
35 


THE CASTAWAY 


alty, and what he did for the lady of his 
heart, the only thing she asked of him, 
had to be done well. 

Slowly and with apparent calm he en- 
tered Eric's room. 

‘T am afraid you were puzzled at my 
peculiar behavior,' he began, but Eric in- 
terrupted him. 

'‘Not at all; I understand you perfect- 
ly," he snapped moodily. "You and I may 
well shake hands. We have both had our 
affections shamefully betrayed." 

"Not both: I alone have been trifled 
with." 

"Well, the fact that she ultimately chose 
me and rejected you proves her no better 
than a reverse decision would have made 
her out. She has played false in either 
case." 

"No, Eric, she has not deceived me. My 
own imagination played me false. I was 
a fool. Is she to blame for that?" 

Eric looked at his brother skeptically. 
"You did not speak thus last night," he 
remarked. 30 


A BREACH BETWEEN BROTHERS 


'T was not responsible then; to-day I 
know perfectly well what I am about.’’ 

‘‘But your surprise was so genuine that 
you must have had absolute assurance of 
Elsa’s affections.” 

“Our wishes often father our beliefs, 
and we are prone to flatter Purselves with 
groundless hopes,” said Helmer, pained by 
the necessity for declaring himself a con- 
ceited simpleton; but his promise to Elsa 
he was determined to keep at all hazards. 

Eric arose and stepped close to his 
brother. Looking him squarely into the 
eyes, he proceeded: 

“Has there been nothing in her conduct 
toward you to support your belief that she 
was in love with you ?” 

“No,” averred Helmer without wincing. 

He knew full well that he was practicing 
deception upon his own brother, but what 
cared he now for right or wrong, just so 
Elsa was exonerated. 

Eric’s face brightened. 


37 


THE CASTAWAY 


''Are you sure?^’ he queried, still in. 
doubt. 

"I am,^' was Helmer's positive assur- 
ance. 

"Then her friendship for you has been 
entirely innocent,’’ Eric inferred. "She 
must have been totally ignorant of your 
feelings for her.” 

"Absolutely,” avowed Helmer brazenly 
while struggling to conceal the smart as 
the white lie scorched his lips. 

"Then I have wronged her grievously?” 
Eric pursued, with a roused sense of re- 
morse. 

"You have.” 

Eric stood for a moment in mute re- 
flection, his brow clearing meanwhile. At 
length he extended his hand to Elmer 
and looked flxedly into his face. 

"I thank you,” said he. "You have no 
idea what a relief this gives -me. For it 
is a dreadful thing to doubt the constancy 
of one you love.” 

"I believe you,” Helmer assented. 

38 


A BREACH BETWEEN BROTHERS 


'‘No one but you could have so com- 
pletely dispelled that mistrust/' said Eric 
assuringly, “for on your word I know I 
can safely depend. You never could speak 
an untruth, Helmer," he concluded with 
emphasis. 

The younger brother was compelled to 
drop his eyes at this unmerited praise, 
and remained silent for fear of betraying 
himself with a word and thus render 
worthless the tremendous sacrifice just 
made. For Elsa he had given, not his life, 
but what is more, his honor. The inner 
voice accused him, but he bade it be still. 

One thing was now clear to Helmer : he 
must arrange to leave home at an early 
day. For how could he remain at Berg- 
dale and see Elsa there as his brother’s 
wife? The older brother instinctively un- 
derstood this, and no explanations were 
needed when Helmer demanded his share 
of the property in ready money. 

“Yes, you shall have the cash as soon as 
39 


THE CASTAWAY 


I can raise it,” Eric assured him. ‘‘How 
do you intend to invest your capital?” he 
asked in his businesslike way. 

''That matter I haven't given a thought, 
but never mind. I'll find some way,” said 
Helmer carelessly. "First of all I am go- 
ing to enjoy myself.” 

Eric shook his head. 

"I hesitate to turn over the full amount 
in one sum,” said he, "before you have 
matured some plan. I fear you might be 
tempted to squander it all and then find 
yourself down and out.” 

"Well, what of it? I won't bother any- 
body. I can go to work. Besides, doesn't 
the money belong to me ?” 

"Certainly, but r” 

. "And am I not of legal age and responsi- 
ble for myself?” 

"Well, yes, as far as age goes.” 

"Haven't I a right, then, to do what I 
please with what belongs to me?” the 
younger man maintained. 


40 


A BREACH BETWEEN BROTHERS 


course, but it is out of consideration 
for your welfare 

^'Save yourself all needless worry. You 
look after your own affairs ; I’ll look after 
mine.” 

Helmer’s harsh tone irritated Eric, but 
he kept himself well in hand and agreed 
to his brother’s demands. His sympathy 
for the rejected rival was cooling rapidly. 
If a giddy young fellow loses his heart and 
falsely imagines himself loved in return, 
that gives him no warrant to take out his 
grudge on his associates, he argued. 

^‘Well, when you’ve gone through it all, 
don’t blame anyone 'else. Remember, I 
gave you fair warning.” This was Eric’s 
parting advice. 

Helmer promised to remember. 

Shortly after that, Helmer was paid his 
share of the farm, based on the legal valu- 
ation, together with a small sum by way 
of quitclaiming his joint ownership of the 
shop in Stockholm. This business being 
still in its inception and chiefly the result 
41 


THE CASTAWAY 

of Eric’s planning, not of any substan- 
tial investment, the elder brother justly 
claimed it as mainly his own exclusive 
property. 

Helmer, however, was content with the 
division, and had no thought of exacting 
more. His only desire was to get away 
from home to seek pleasure and oblivion 
in the great wide world. 


42 


IV. GONE BUT NOT FORGOT- 
TEN. 


ELMER was gone. In his native 
place little was heard of him from 
that time, and that little was not 
of the best. 

‘"Can he have made an end of his 
money already?'’ said Eric to himself 
when one day he learnt that his brother 
was a member of the crew of a merchant- 
man in the South American trade. After 
that there was no further news of the 
prodigal adventurer. 

The heart of Brita Reiner was weighed 
down with sorrow. She was not given to 
romantic sentimentalism and had little 
leisure for day-dreaming or contemplation 
of her inner life. She was scarcely aware 
of her own grief, except when the occa- 
43 



THE CASTAWAY 


sional sight of Eric or the Bergdale manor 
struck a new, pang to her aching heart. 
Every time she passed a favorite spot for 
their childhood games or one of the usual 
trysting places in lat6r years, she keenly 
felt Helmer’s absence and her own loss. 
After she heard the news that he had gone 
to sea, she had not a word from him. If 
perchance she was awakened at night by 
a storm, her first and only thought was of 
Helmer, and from her simple girlish heart , 
would inevitably rise a whispered prayer 
for his safety. 

She went about her daily round of du- 
ties as faithfully as before, but without in- 
terest or zest. Her devotion in church was 
frequently disturbed by heavy thoughts. 
Her lips would move in prayer, while her 
heart was far away. In her jeading her 
mind would wander afar, only to return 
whenever some passage would recall her 
bereavement or some episode in her own 
experience. Her little brothers and sisters 
complained of her inattention, and her 
44 


GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 


father missed the former sunshine in her 
presence. 

The worst of it all was that Britans 
mind was being gradually poisoned by bit- 
terness. She who had been known for.her 
kindness and fellow-feeling for all now 
began to harbor an antipathy to her inti- 
mate friend, Elsa Wing, and many a re- 
bellious “why'' arose against her and 
against God in the young girl's heart, 
once so confiding and trustful. 

But one day a saving word reached 
Brita's heart. Lady Crane was a devout 
person in her own way, although very few 
so regarded her, arguing that piety did 
not go well together with her crabbed tem- 
per and her cold, harsh treatment of oth- 
ers. People forgot that the Lord's treas- 
ures may be contained even in the frailest 
of earthen vessels. Regardless of the 
depth of the old lady's piety, she became in 
this particular case the chosen instrument 
to carry out a little mission in God's serv- 
ice. She felt a certain responsibility for 
45 


THE CASTAWAY 

the souls of her subordinates and others 
with whom she came in contact, but she 
did not attempt to missionize in words of 
her own, presumably for the reason that 
she was as doubtful of her own fitness as 
were those about her. So she sowed the 
good seed by distributing tracts and other 
good literature. A small tract which she 
placed in the hand of Brita Reiner one day 
came as a godsend at the very moment 
when the girl was in great need of just 
such instruction as the leafiet had to give. 
‘'Who Is the God of Your Heart?'’ 

This was the title of the tract. The 
question went straight to Brita's heart like 
the rays of a searchlight. At the first 
opportunity she sat down to read it. She 
flushed with interest as she read on : 

‘‘Thou shall have no other gods before 
me. If you have another god than the 
true God, you are under judgment. That 
other god, the object of your adoration, 
might be ever so good, your love for him 
46 


GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 


ever so natural and legitimate, but so long 
as God Almighty is not the God of your 
heart, you are living a life of sin and 
idolatry. But how can I compel my own 
heart? you ask. Whom I love, I love. 
How can I love another simply by com- 
mand? 

^‘You are right. This you cannot do of 
your own strength and will. But God con- 
veys through His commandments the 
power to carry them out. When the Sav- 
iour says to the lame man. Arise and 
walk ! — then the lame man instantly 
leaves his bed and walks, provided he has 
a desire to get well and harbors due re- 
spect for Christ's commandment. 

‘‘When you receive God's command to 
love Him above all things, and you realize 
how great a debt of love your heart owes 
Him, then turn to Him with a new-born 
desire to keep His law. Entrust yourself 
to His care in faith and hope, and rest 
assured that God's love will win you over. 

‘‘The greater your debt, and the more 


47 


THE CASTAWAY 


feeble your power to pay that debt, the 
greater will be your love toward Him who 
cancels your debt and remits all your sins. 

‘'Let the Holy Spirit guide you to Gol- 
gotha, there to meet your God in the per- 
son of Jesus Christ, His Son, who paid 
your debt in the supreme sacrifice of His 
blood. Such was His love for you before 
you gave Him even a thought. . Can you 
resist the power of so great mercy? Can 
you steel year heart against such love?’^ 

Brita read the little tract from begin- 
ning to end, then turned back and read it 
over again. Every word of it seemed to 
have been written as a personal message 
to her, to be applied to her particular case. 
From that day she began to pray to God 
that He would cleanse her from all idol- 
worship and be the one God of her heart. 
Her prayer was heard, and the answer 
came, not instantly, as she had hoped, but 
through a gradual transformation. 

At first it appeared to her that however 
48 


GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 


fervent her prayer, it availed nothing*. 
God seemed farther away than ever be- 
fore, while Helmer was in her mind every 
day and hour. She could not, would not 
relinquish the thought of him. At length 
she reached the point of despair, and was 
about to give up everything for lost. Still 
there was some hidden motive deep down 
in her heart that compelled her to perse- 
vere in prayer — the sense of that lack of 
peace with God that she sought. 

During these spiritual trials Brita’s 
sense of guilt grew, and she began to cry 
out of the depths of her agonized soul for 
divine help. When she reached that point, 
the answers to her prayers began to come. 
She was given to taste that the Lord is 
gracious. He took first place in her heart, 
and she had the blessed experience of be- 
ing called out of darkness into God's mar- 
velous light. 

During her spiritual change of heart 
Brita's affection for Helmer Branning also 
underwent a change. Her grief for his 
49 


The Castaway i. 


THE CASTAWAY 


absence and estrangement gave way to a 
deeper concern for his soul's welfare, for 
she knew that he was a stranger to God. 


50 


V. THE CHANCE MEETING. 


RIC BRANNING and Elsa Wing 
had celebrated their marriage 
shortly after Helmer’s departure 
and were now living in happiness and 
comfort at Bergdale. 

Elsa proved an excellent manager of the 
household and in all things a sensible help- 
mate and wise councillor to her husband. 
Success was theirs, and Bergdale grew 
ever more prosperous. Eric was highly 
delighted with life and never tired of 
praising the qualities of the mistress of 
the manor, who had won the respect and 
admiration of ‘the entire neighborhood. 
One thing alone displeased him : his young 
wife could not feel quite at home at Berg- 
dale. 

Whenever he was to make a business 
trip to Stockholm, he would intimate that 
51 



THE CASTAWAY 


she stay at home to supervise the manage- 
ment of affairs on the farm. But she 
would not listen to his suggestions. She 
would insist on accompanying him to the 
capital. His remonstrances she met with 
the inquiry whether their marriage was 
a compact for mere mutual usefulness, in 
which love and ideal companionship were 
to hold a subordinate place. Did it not 
occur to him that she, too, might need a 
change in the way of travel, rest, and recre- 
ation? She maintained with a woman's 
charming logic and convincing eloquence 
that she was the wife of his bosom, not 
only his team-mate on the farm. Each 
time he would yield with apparent good- 
nature to the force of her argument and 
raise no further objections. 

So Elsa accompanied lier husband to 
Stockholm and by various womanly wiles 
managed to prolong their stay far beyond 
the time limit fixed by her husband at the 
outset. She proved a shrewd business 
associate, too, although, to her way of 
52 


THE CHANCE MEETING 


thinking, that was a secondary matter in 
a marriage contract. It was part of her 
design to draw her husband's attention 
from his farm at Bergdale to his business 
in the capital; consequently she centered 
all her ingenuity on plans for the develop- 
ment of the latter. Eric was pleased with 
her excellent suggestions and convinced 
of their practicability, and he gradually 
found himself more attached to his shop 
in Stockholm than to his farm in the prov- 
ince. As a matter of course, a trip of 
supervision had to be made to the latter 
now and then, but when Eric's duties 
called' him to Bergdale Elsa had no desire 
to accompany him. 

Eric, however, continued to cherish a 
warm attachment for the farm where his 
boyhood days were spent. But his rea- 
sons were more a matter of calculation 
than of sentiment, after all. This Elsa 
realized, and she knew how to turn that 
circumstance to her advantage. 

When she first broached her plan of sell- 
53 


THE CASTAWAY 


ing the farm, Eric would not listen to it. 
Yet she eventually brought him around to 
her view, knowing full well that for a busy 
man of affairs sentimental bonds would 
soon yield to the stress of economic inter- 
ests and the lure of business opportuni- 
ties. She gained her point. 

They now had their permanent resi- 
dence in the capital city, and Eric seldom 
if ever reverted to recollections of his 
childhood home. 

In a short time Elsa acquired for them 
a large circle of acquaintances. Such were 
her social accomplishments that wherever 
she went she made a multitude of friends. 
Her attempt to draw her husband into the 
whirl of society, however, was not a com- 
plete success. Drawing him into the vor- 
tex of business had not proved nearly so 
difficult, for therein he had merely fol- 
lowed a natural inclination. For social 
accomplishments, on the other hand, Eric 
had little taste. Society ran altogether 
too much to leisure and luxury to meet 
54 


THE CHANCE MEETING 

with the approval of a man of his make-up 
and training. While somewhat displeased 
at his mercenary, matter-of-fact bent, his 
wife took this with good grace, inasmuch 
as it made for constantly increasing 
wealth, and this in turn lent added luster 
and increased popularity to her own per- 
son. 

Lady Branning, as was now her social 
title, was a woman of vivacious tempera- 
ment, and her keen, intelligent interest in 
matters that absorb the attention of the 
aggregate mind at once made her the soul 
and center of any (yrcles in which she 
chose to move. But her charm of manner 
and girlish vivacity notwithstanding, she 
would sometimes betray to her friends, 
particularly those whom she honored by 
her confidences, a touch of melancholy that 
seemed to bespeak some secret sorrow. 
A sharp eye might detect a shade of 
nervousness in her exuberance, a restless 
anxiety in her grasping for ever widening 
spheres of interest, and then a relapse 
55 


THE CASTAWAY 


into gloomy moroseness in her serious 
moments. 

The novelty of metropolitan life in the 
Swedish capital having worn off little by 
little, Elsa one day suggested a trip 
abroad. It was a mere feeler, and the re- 
sponse was negative. This did not dis- 
courage her. By and by she repeated the 
suggestion in the form of an elaborated 
plan showing how the trip might be made 
to promote business in the first place and 
afford pleasure and recreation as a mere 
side issue. Her womanly sagacity scored 
another triumph. Eric consented. 

They traveled through several countries 
on the continent, visiting the capitals and 
other metropolitan cities. Elsa was all 
eyes and enthusiasm, and the interest her 
husband took in sight-seeing was chiefly 
inspired by her. Just prior to their return 
home she even gained his 'consent to a 
short stay at one of the fashionable water- 
ing places on the French coast. 


56 


THE CHANCE MEETING 


There Elsa hurled herself headlong into 
the social swim, and what with sailing, 
bathing, excursions, picnics, dinners, and 
balls, she enjoyed herself with a venge- 
ance. Eric also took delight in the 
brief sejour, more so than his wife had 
looked for, particularly after meeting sev- 
eral prominent London merchants whose 
acquaintance he hoped to 'turn to good 
account. 

Strolling one day up and down the 
beach, Eric and the Englishmen saw a 
crowd of half-tipsy sailors coming toward 
them, walking arm in arm and singing 
with raucous voices. ' Absorbed in conver- 
sation, Eric had paid little attention to 
the jolly tars, when a voice suddenly called 
out in Swedish : 

‘‘Ohoy there, Eric, you old landlubber, 
how are you?’' 

Eric Branning stopped short. Indeed! 
The tanned young seaman who had ad- 
dressed him so familiarly was none other 
than his brother Helmer. 


57 


THE CASTAWAY 


In business life Eric had acquired self- 
possession and presence of mind for sur- 
prising or delicate situations. His first 
concern was not to hazard any loss of caste 
or standing with his new-found business 
friends through undue familiarity with a 
rough sailor lad, so he turned to them with 
a polite request to be excused for leaving 
them for a moment. 

''That sailor is a fellow-countryman of 
mine whom I knew years ago. I must 
speak a word with him,” he explained. 

The two English gentlemen courteously 
bowed their consent and left with a puzzled 
glance back at the simple-looking fellow 
that claimed familiarity with this elegant 
Swedish gentleman. 

Meanwhile Helmer Branning, in a less 
courteous way, had told his pals to move 
on, and they reeled down the beach scream- 
ing their ribald songs in the ears of the 
fashionable crowd. 

Now the two brothers stood face to face. 


58 


THE CHANCE MEETING 


Many years had passed since they parted, 
yet their meeting was far from cordial. 

“Aha — so Fm just a countryman of 
yours,” Helmer opened up in a wrangling 
mood. “You’d rather steer clear of me, I 
see.” 

“Not at all, Helmer,” Eric protested 
somewhat stiffly. “I am glad to have 
found you.” 

The fact that his brother chanced to 
overhear his remark to the two Londoners 
nettled Eric, as was evident from his tone. 

“You don’t look it,” retorted Helmer 
derisively. 

“Yes, I am glad to have found you,” 
Eric maintained with no loss of dignity, 
“but it does not please me to find you in 
this condition,” he added with emphasis. 

“Oh, Fm all right, all right. Not so 
spick and span as you, mebbe, but this 
here rig is good enough for me, see !” Hel- 
mer rambled on. 

“You are drunk.” 

“Drunk as a lord, sure I am, but as for 


69 


THE CASTAWAY 


that — this is just a fancy little jag, com- 
pared to some of the cargoes this old liner 
has carried in her day/' 

“Helmer!" Eric spoke with utmost 
sternness. ''Do better, and return home !" 

"What business have I at home ? Who'd 
meet me there but an older brother, who 
never did any wrong? I don't belong in 
his class." 

Although roiled by his brother's sar- 
casm, Eric preserved a calm exterior. 

"Come with me, Helmer, and meet Elsa. 
She may be able to talk sense into that 
bull's-head of yours." 

"No, thanks. I have nothing unsettled 
with your wife, Eric. And if there was 
a bone to pick between you and me, you've 
picked it," Helmer declined, with a broad 
allusion. "I can keep mum, depend on it !" 

As he spoke, Helmer glanced down the 
beach, where his comrades were about to 
launch the jolly-boat in which they had 
come ashore. Eric was worried. He felt 
ashamed to go back to his wife and tell her 
60 


THE CHANCE MEETING 


that he had met Helmer but failed to get 
any hold on him. 

'‘Helmer, let them go without . you. 
“Leave the ship, and be my guest until we 
can make other arrangements.'' 

“I prefer hardtack to charity crusts. 
They might stick in my throat, I'm afraid. 
Besides I've hired with this crew, and you 
don't catch me deserting. My pals are 
waiting for me down there. So long !" 

“At least give me an address where a 
letter will reach you," Eric insisted. 

“My address is the sea." 

“But where do you go from here?" 

“The way the prow points." 

“You have only short, bitter replies to 
my questions. Have you forgotten that 
we are brothers? How can I leave you 
■ thus — let you cast yourself adrift again, 
after having found you at last?" 

“Never mind, I am used to drifting. 
That's my business mostly, and it suits me 
jolly well. — They're calling me — I've got 
to be off." 


61 


THE CASTAWAY 


Helmer held out his hand to Eric, who 
grasped it as though he meant to hold his 
brother back by force. 

‘Tf I let you go now, Helmer, how can 
I answer for it to all those at home who 
miss you and hope to see you return and 
settle down as an honest man instead of 
drifting as a human wreck?” 

‘'A wreck!” ejaculated the ne'er-do-well. 
“You just tell the folks at home not to 
worry about Helmer Branning. Leave it 
to me. Til take care of myself. Tell them, 
too, that you met me and did what you 
could to win me back, but found me bitter 
and mulish and unwilling to listen to rea- 
son. But don't try to explain what made 
me so, for you don't know. — Well, drunk 
and tough as I am, you still gave me your 
hand — that I'll never forget.” 

Helmer's voice wavered toward the last. 
Firmly pressing his brother's hand, he 
started on a run down the beach toward 
the boat landing, where his fellow tars 
were loudly venting their impatience. He 
62 


THE CHANCE MEETING 


had to make a long leap into the boat, 
which had already pushed from shore. 
With powerful strokes the sailors rowed 
out to their ship lying at anchor in the 
roadstead. 

This was a stately three-master. Eric 
stood watching the boat until it reached 
the ship, and he could not but admire the 
vessel as her sails were slowly spread like 
the wings of a large bird, and she majes- 
tically moved out to sea. 

Elsa had been out with a yachting party. 
Upon her return she was puzzled to know 
what had happened. Her husband was 
peculiarly distracted .and reticent, with- 
out offering any explanation. He had re- 
solved not to mention this encounter with 
Helmer, hoping thereby to escape criticism 
for his failure to win back the prodigal. 
But Elsa was unyielding in her entreaties 
to learn the cause of his disturbed state 
of mind. To put an end to her importu- 
nate questioning, he finally explained that 


63 


THE CASTAWAY 


he had been very forcibly reminded of his 
long lost brother. 

''And I cannot get away from the sus- 
picion that you did trifle with him, after 
all,^' he added darkly. 'Tt was unrequited 
love that drove him away to sea.” 

Elsa grew pale. He had suddenly tom 
open the old wound that had almost healed 
over. 

"Why should you revert to the past and 
bring up this old charge, knowing as you 
do that I was exonerated by Helmer him- 
self ?” she said in a tone of annoyance. 

"True, he did, but ” Eric hesitated. 

Elsa refrained from demanding further 
explanation, and the matter was dropped 
in the middle of the sentence. Unable to 
worm out of her husband the cause of this 
unexpected revival of an old suspicion, she 
desisted from further inquiry, meanwhile 
noticing an ever increasing coolness on his 
part. Though deeply pained, she gave no 
sign, but sought compensation for her hus- 
band's frigid conduct among her warmer 
64 


THE CHANCE MEETING 


circle of friends. Completely absorbed by 
his mercantile affairs, Eric paid little at- 
tention to what his wife was doing. 


The Castaway. 5. 


65 


VI. THE SAILORS’ CHRIST- 
MAS. 

N Christmas Eve Helmer found 
himself in an English port. Part 
of the crew of his ship had been 
given permission to go ashore, and he was 
among those on leave. They roamed about 
the streets in search of a jolly good time. 
At length they reached a resort that 
seemed to offer just that kind of pleasure 
which appealed to their basest appetites. 
The crowd filed in — all but Helmer, who 
stopped outside the door and held back a 
boy of fourteen, named Nils, the youngest 
member of the ship's crew. 

The lad had formed an attachment for 
Helmer from the first, and followed him 
with somewhat of the trust and faithful- 
ness of a dog. Nils, or Nissy, as he was 
nicknamed by captain and crew, was on his 
66 



THE SAILORS^ CHRISTMAS 


maiden voyage. This being his first visit 
in a foreign port, his face shone with 
pleasant anticipation as he stood, ruddy 
and clean and untainted, at the door of the 
den of vice. 

‘‘Say, Nissy, this is nothing for you,^’ 
Helmer advised. '‘Better stay out.” 

Nissy looked at him with a long face. 

"Where can I go, then ?” he faltered. 

"Go back to the ship.” 

The boy objected. On board he would 
feel dreadfully lonesome, especially on a 
night like this and in the absence of his 
best friend. 

"Let him in, Hal,”, ordered one of the 
others, who came out to see what had be- 
come of the laggards. "It will make a man 
of him all the sooner,” was his crude 
philosophy. 

The lad's eyes brightened at this unex- 
pected backing, but Helmer instantly 
blasted his hopes. 

"I will not let the boy in,” he said reso- 
lutely. — "Go back on board, Nissy!” 

67 


THE CASTAWAY 


“Why can’t you let me go along ?” whim- 
pered the boy. 

“Because this is no place for boys.” 

“But you can go in there.” 

“That’s different. I’m a man. You are 
just a kid.” 

“What does that matter?” 

“Oh, just because. Now, don’t fuss, but 
do what I tell you to.” 

Without another word the little fellow 
turned and started off alone through the 
strange city. Never before in his young 
life had he felt so utterly -lonesome. Dis- 
may was written in his face. When Hel- 
mer saw this, his better nature got the 
upper hand. 

“I am going with you,” he said abrupt- 
ly. “Come on, Nissy, we’ll have some fun 
all by ourselves.” 

With that he took the boy by the arm^, 
and the two hurried away, the older com- 
rade with the appearance of fleeing from 
a temptation to which he had been about 
to succumb. 


68 


THE SAILORS’ CHRISTMAS 


Nils was mightily relieved and his heart 
leaped for joy. Roaming about in a for- 
eign city on Christmas Eve, far from home 
and kin, he asked for nothing better than 
the companionship of his protector and 
friend. He grew talkative and began to 
tell Helmer of his folks at home, how they 
were wont to celebrate Christmas, how he 
had longed to go to sea and how hard it 
was at first, when he was seasick and awk- 
ward and friendless. Now he had begun 
to find his place and get used to his duties 
on board, he said, and didn’t Helmer, too, 
think he was getting on fine and doing 
pretty near a man’s work, the lad demand- 
ed of his older companion. Thus he pat- 
tered on until it suddenly dawned upon 
him that Helmer was not saying a word. 

"‘Are you missing the fun for my sake?” 
he asked. '‘Why, then, didn’t you let me 
go in, too?” 

"See here, Nissy, I’d rather miss that 
fun for your sake than see you in that 
place for my sake,” said Helmer firmly. 

69 


THE CASTAWAY 


‘‘But you are missing it a little bit, aren’t 
you ? If rd known this, I’d ’ave stayed on 
board to-night. I’ll go back, and you can 
go with the others.” 

“Not at all, my boy,” said Helmer eva- 
sively. “It’s mighty queer if we can’t 
kick up some fun for just us two. You 
think of something!” 

Nissy’s mind worked with a full head of 
steam. 

“Let’s play we’re celebrating Christmas 
Eve back home in Sweden,” he proposed 
presently. 

“That’s a go,” Helmer agreed. “First 
we’ll drop into the nearest store and buy . 
presents for each other.” 

Nissy was elated, but at the entrance to 
the first shop reached he grew serious. 

“But if we do our buying together, there 
won’t be any surprise,” he remarked. 

“That’s so,” Helmer adrhitted. “Well, 
you go in here, and I’ll go In next door, 
then we’ll meet outside.” 

Before long the two comrades came out, 
70 


THE SAILORS^ CHRISTMAS 


each carrying several parcels and wear- 
ing a mysterious look. 

''Where’ll we go, so we can hand out the 
presents and open the packages?” was 
Nissy’s next care. 

"That’s a hard nut to crack, my boy. 
Oh, well, the curb will^do well enough, or 
some stairway,” suggested the older head. 

They, soon found a sheltered doorway 
where they ■ sat down and prepared for 
their novel Christmas celebration. After 
a little while Helmer grew silent and 
showed signs of uneasiness. He felt drawn 
to his other comrades, and was angry with 
himself for peripitting this young stripling 
to stand between him and the pleasures he 
had so keenly anticipated. With no regret 
for his act, he pondered on a way of get- 
ting rid of the boy without leaving him to 
the tender mercies of the city streets or 
sending him back to spend a lonesome and 
cheerless Christmas Eve on shipboard. 

Suddenly he sprang to his feet. 

"I’ve got it,” he exclaimed. "What an 
71 


THE CASTAWAY 


idiot I was not to think of that before! 
We’ll go to the Scandinavian Seaman’s 
Home. There they’re just now celebrat- 
ing. How does that suit you?” 

'Tine! Let’s go right away,” the lad 
chimed in, always ready for anything his 
friend proposed. 

On the way to the refuge Nissy’s ardor 
was cruelly smothered when Helmer in- 
directly intimated that he was taking him 
there only to leave him and rejoin his com- 
rades. 

"Now promise me that you step right 
up to the seamen’s pastor and ask to be 
shown the way back to the ship when all 
is over,” Helmer instructed him. 

"Why don’t you want to be there your- 
self? Don’t you want to celebrate the real 
way?” 

"Oh, I don’t care much about it.” 

The boy walked along disheartened and 
silent. 

"Can’t you find the way?” he queried. 


72 


THE SAILORS’ CHRISTMAS 


anxiously, when Helmer stopped and 
looked doubtfully about. 

‘‘Well, I had some idea of where it was, 
but we’ll have to ask our way, I see.” 

^‘Never mind. I’d just as lief go back 
to the harbor.” Nissy tried to put assur- 
ance into his voice. 

Helmer would not listen to that. He 
picked his way to the Scandinavian mis- 
sion somehow, and when they arrived they 
could notice from the illuminated windows 
and the festive hum from within that the 
celebration of Christmas Eve in Swedish 
fashion was in full swing. Helmer 
stopped. 

'‘Go on in,” he told the boy. 

Nissy looked up at him imploringly. 

“Won’t you come with me?” he pleaded. 
“Just for a little while. I feel so uneasy 
in a strange crowd. And maybe they 
won’t let a boy in alone.” 

Helmer shrugged his broad shoulders 
uneasily, but yielded. He was determined. 


73 


THE CASTAWAY 


however, to slip out as soon as he had pro- 
cured a good place for his protege. 

The supper was over and coffee was be- 
ing served to everybody, friends and stran- 
gers alike. Down at the door the wife of 
the seaman’s missionary was on the look- 
out. Seeing the sailor enter with the cabin- 
boy, she greeted both with great cordiality 
and pushed them gently through the crowd 
toward the serving-table. No one was ex- 
pected to decline. As she conducted the 
two belated guests down the hall in person, 
there was no way for Helmer but to follow. 
Had it been the pastor, he might have 
nerved himself to a ‘'No, thank you !” but 
to a lady he was unable to show such dis- 
courtesy. Concealing his chagrin, he po- 
litely accepted the proffered cup. She re- 
mained by their side, chatting pleasantly 
while they enjoyed the treat. Nils cast 
eager eyes on the resplendent Christmas 
tree, dressed with her own hands, and 
weighed down with decorations and gifts 
sent direct from the home country, as she 
explained. 74 


THE SAILORS^ CHRISTMAS 


am so sorry you did not come a little 
earlier,” she said, ''so you could have been 
along from the start. Now the festival is 
almost over, but fortunately the distribu- 
tion of presents is still to come.” 

This with a gentle smile for Nils, who 
responded with a happy, boyish grin and 
went on to tell of the little celebration 
Helmer and he had planned for them- 
selves. The kind hostess was visibly 
touched, and she gave Helmer a look which 
bespoke more plainly than words her ad- 
miration for a young sailor who could de- 
vise such innocent enjoyment in a strange 
city full of vicious allurements. Feeling 
quite unworthy of her good opinion of him, 
Helmer chafed under the moral restraint 
of the pure woman^s presence and wished 
himself far away. He was watching for 
an opportunity to slink out of the hall, but 
everything conspired against him. As 
soon as he was relieved of his coffee cup, 
the organ commenced to play. The hostess 
ushered Helmer and Nils to one of the 
75 


THE CASTAWAY 


front seats and took her place beside them. 
What could Helmer do but bow politely 
and sit down ? 

The song rang mightily through the hall, 
carried by a hundred and more strong 
men's voices. Then the mass of presents 
sent froni Sweden were handed out to the 
throng of sailor men who were prevented 
from enjoying the yuletide with their near 
and dear ones at home. Not even now could 
Helmer find a plausible excuse for leaving. 
Resigned to his fate, he settled down with 
the idea of staying it out, consoling himself 
with the thought that all would soon be 
over. 

He drew a number and received the 
small package to which it entitled him. A 
smile of disdain played about his lips as he 
removed the wrapper. The package was 
found to contain a so-called '‘sailor's 
housewife," a little cloth bag or wallet, 
with pockets, containing needles and 
thread, buttons, and the like. Oh well, the 
thing might come handy. Despite his ap- 
76 


THE SAILORS’ CHRISTMAS 


parent scorn for the outfit, he deigned to 
examine it with some degree of curiosity.- 
In this sartorial repair kit, hidden in a 
bunch of patches of various color and tex- 
ture, he finally discovered a slip of paper — 
a note from the donor of the bag. Deaf to 
the noise and bustle and bursts of merri- 
ment all around him, Helmer unfolded the 
slip and read : 

‘‘To my Unknoivii Friend: 

Kindly accept this little gift from one 
who has a tender spot in her heart for the 
workers of the sea. Possibly you may have 
use for it. Many well-wishes are sewed 
into its fabric. ' Above all else, the giver 
hopes that the true God may become the 
God of your heart, provided He has not yet 
taken possession. If you are His, He is 
mighty to save and preserve you; if you 
are not. He may still find you, for He is 
the Lord of land and sea and His Spirit 
moves upon the face of the waters. 

It would be a pleasure indeed to learn 
into whose hands my slight gift has fallen. 
Would you be so kind as to write and tell 

77 


THE CASTAWAY 


me your name and give some little account 
of your past life. 

Brita Reiner, 

Forester’s Lodge, Craneycroft, Sweden. 


‘‘Helmer, are you very anxious to get 
away?’^ whispered Nissy in his ear. 

‘‘Why do you think so?'’ returned Hel- 
mer absent-mindedly. 

“Because you look that way. They're all 
talking and laughing. You just sit here 
quiet and glum. Dont' you like the present 
you got?” 

“Sure I do — I'm more than satisfied,'' 
said Helmer. 

“Look, what I got. Isn't that fine?'' said 
Nissy, holding up some little knickknack. 

Helmer pretended to admire the boy's 
Christmas gift, then showed Nissy his own 
after having carefully put away Brita 
Reiner's letter in his pocket. Nissy ex- 
amined the “housewife” and made a little 
joke of his own about Helmer 's unexpected 
marriage. 


78 


THE SAILORS^ CHRISTMAS 


The organ sounded again, and all the 
manly voices rang out, now more heartily 
than before, in the closing hymn. With a 
fervent prayer by the seaman^s missionary 
pastor the festival came to an end. 

‘Til take you back to the ship at any 
rate,'' said Helmer, as he and Nissy left the 
seamen's home. ' 

“Are you sorry you came?" queried the 
boy. 

“Oh no, I enjoyed myself fairly." 

“I am glad you did," said Nissy with a 
sense of relief. “I'd hate to think you were 
disappointed. I had such a good time." 

The seaman's home was near that part 
of the harbor where their ship was moored, 
and the two companions soon stepped 
aboard. 

“Now you are free to go where you like. 
You are going right back, I suppose," said 
Nissy as they passed the gangway. 

“No, not just yet," Helmer replied. I'm 
going to stay on deck and do a little think- 
ing all by myself.” 


79 


THE CASTAWAY 


Nils took the plain hint and with a pleas- 
ant good-night went straight to the cabin 
where he was soon sound asleep in his 
bunk. 

As soon as Helmer was alone he stepped 
close to a lantern and read Britans letter a 
second time. He did not go back to his 
comrades on shore leave but walked the 
deck in deep meditation for hours that 
starlit Christmas night. Numberless ves- 
sels turned the harbor into a forest of 
masts, and through the spars and tackle 
the big stars looked down clear and bright 
on the wakeful wanderer. 

The more Helmer thought of home and 
of Brita and her message, the stronger 
grew his impulse to reply. It were only 
right and proper that he should send a 
word of thanks and appreciation for what 
he had received. Going below, he at once 
took out pen and paper and sat down to 
write. His own clear,' round style he 
sought to disguise into a crooked and 
sprawling hand. This is what he wrote : 

80 



As soon as Ilelmer was alone he stepped close to a lantern 
and read Britas letter a second time. (Page 80.) 



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THE SAILORS’ CHRISTMAS 


*^Miss Brita Reiner: 

I wish to thank you for the handy 'house- 
wife’ and the letter. You want to know 
who got your present. Well, I was the 
lucky fellow, all right. Then you want to 
know something about me. Well, there 
isn’t much to tell, and there’s nobody that 
cares much, either. I became a sailor be- 
cause I didn’t want to be anything else. I 
am not married but I have a little sweet- 
heart. She has her moods and whims, but 
she is always pretty, even when she pouts. 
I like her best when she storms. Then she 
gives a fellow a hard tussle but it makes a 
real man of him. I suppose you wonder 
who this sweetheart is. Well, it’s the 
Ocean. 

Now I have told nearly all there is to say 
about myself. I would like very much to 
have Miss Brita tell me something about 
herself. The next port we make is Mar- 
seilles, and my name is. 

Yours gratefully, 

Charles Storm. 

With no little satisfaction with his effort 
Helmer enclosed the letter and stamped it 
for mailing. 81 

The Castaway. 6. 


VII. THE PRODIGAL’S 
RETURN. 

HE first thing Helmer did when he 
reached the French port was to go 
to the post office and ask for mail. 
In his excitement he forgot the signature 
and gave his real name instead. The clerk 
at the window shook his head. There was 
no letter for Helmer Branning. His face 
twitched with disappointment as he 
turned to go. Just as he was about to leave, 
the recollection flashed through his mind 
that the expected letter was for Charles 
Storm, not for Helmer Branning. He re- 
turned to the window and, giving his fic- 
titious name, received the longed for mis- 
sive. In an out-of-the-way corner he 
opened the letter and read it at his leisure. 

This second message from Brita brought 
tears to his eyes. She wrote in her artless 
82 



THE PRODIGAL’S RETURN 


way of the things he already knew, yet 
nothing that he had ever l-ead before had 
touched him so profoundly. 

He saw the girl before his eyes like a 
living presence, her beaming eyes with the 
gentle, good-natured look in them, her 
pretty smile with the dimple in her left 
cheek, the tender, girlish form, all stood be- 
fore him in lifelike reality. There had been 
balm of healing for him in her very being. 
Helmer had felt it as a boy when they 
played together and availed himself of that 
secret power. *In his childish sorrows he 
had always sought comfort from little 
Brita, who knew just how to sympathize 
with him, though she said but little. Nev- 
ertheless, when he grew to young man- 
hood, dauntless, care-free, unscathed, then 
it was not so much a sympathetic comrade 
he required as an object of his adoration, 
a lady-love, the winning of whom was 
worth the breaking of a knightly lance, if 
need be ; for that reason Elsa Wing and 
not Brita Reiner had become the object of 
83 


THE CASTAWAY 


Helmer’s romantic passion. Wounded in 
the first tilt in love's tournament, he had 
fled from home and become a knight errant 
of the sea in an effort to obliterate the past. 

He had succeeded in part: Elsa's image 
was erased from the tablets of his heart, 
and the wound caused by her duplicity was 
now healed. Life had given him other 
battles to fight; and he had fought with 
something of the wild viking courage of 
his forefathers. Wounds he had often re- 
ceived, painful wounds, but to the most 
fatal of these he had scarcely given heed 
until now that he was again confronted 
with his little childhood friend. He felt 
the loss of much that Brita had admired 
in him. Even the vivid memory of her 
proved a balm of healing, though it caused 
his open wounds to smart bitterly. 

On his next letter Helmer’ spent much 
more time. Anxious as he was to keep up 
the correspondence, the tender tone of 
Brita's missive warned him to take the 
greatest precaution not to frighten or es- 
84 


THE PRODIGAL’S RETURN 


trange her by the slightest trace of indis- 
creet familiarity or unmannerly boldness. 

The exchange was kept up, Brita punc- 
tually sending a letter to every port desig- 
nated and Helmer always replying by re- 
turn mail. Her letters were no sermons, 
yet their purport was manifest : she 
sought to direct the sailor’s eyes and mind 
godward. 

Sometimes he had compunctions of con- 
science for writing her under an assumed 
name, while she signed her true name in 
implicit trustfulness. However, he dared 
not reveal his true self to her for fear the 
deception might cause her to break off 
the correspondence which had by now 
grown indispensable to him. Brita’s let- 
ters were to him as sacred relics, and her 
last he always carried on his person in a 
sort of superstitious belief in its protective 
virtue. And the letters did have the mys- 
terious power of protecting him from evil. 
It happened more than once, when on shore 
leave he was about to enter some den of 


85 


THE CASTAWAY 


vice such as the seaport towns abound in, 
that the mere thought of the Brita's letter 
in his pocket compelled him to turn back. 
He began to be ashamed of the habitual 
pleasures in which he had indulged to blot 
out the memory of Elsa Wing. But Brita 
he wanted to remember, hence he was 
forced to avoid the temptations of the sea- 
port brothels; for if he yielded in the 
slightest degree he dared not even think of 
the pure girl at home until he had first 
shrived his mind by repentance. Out at 
sea, on the other hand, in storm, in fog, in 
darkness, she was constantly in his mind, 
and he cherished the sweet recollection of 
her bravely, longingly. He took ever 
greater care to avoid the temptations and 
dangers against which the spirit of her 
messages was an indirect warning, and his 
mind became centered on better things. 

Finally one day a letter came which 
gave him much mental trouble, although it 
was written in Brita's usual style, tactful 


86 


THE PRODIGAL^S RETURN 


and considerate to a high degree. It con- 
tained this question : 

''Have you ever chanced to meet a young 
man named Helmer Branning? He is the 
only sailor I know. He and I were play- 
mates together ...” 

It was a modest question, yet it revealed 
to Helmer the fact that he was not for- 
gotten after all. It caused a warm sensa- 
tion about the heart and brought tears to 
his eyes. That simple question cost Hel- 
mer a great deal of paper and an enormous 
amount of brain work. At last he succeed- 
ed in framing up a reply made up of fact 
and fiction in nearly equal parts. It ran 
thus: 

" Yes, I have met a man by the 

name of Helmer Branning. I found him a 
man unworthy of a thought from anybody, 
least of all from one so good and pure- 
minded as you, for he is quite the reverse. 
I have seen him drunk and witnessed the 
wild life he leads, but recently I have lost 
track of him, just as he has lost track of 
himself. You ought not trouble yourself 
to think of such a fellow ...” 


THE CASTAWAY 


This was one of Charles Storm's short- 
est letters. He awaited the reply with 
tense expectancy. Almost pale with anxi- • 
ety he made inquiry one day at the post 
office at Hull, and his brawny, browned 
hand trembled as he grasped the looked for 
piece of mail. 

Brita’s reply was rather sharp for a 
tender little woman with balm of healing 
in her make-up, but the one for whom her 
upbraidings were meant rejoiced notwith- 
standing, 

'' Even though I were as good 

and pure-hearted as you seem to imagine, 
and the friend of my childhood were such 
a wreck as you picture him, I should be 
all the more deeply concerned on his ac- 
count. Should you meet him again, please 
do not pass him by because of his sins, but 
befriend him and speak to him of the 
Saviour of sinners, if you yourself know 
the Lord. I had been hoping that you did, 
but your way of speaking of your former 
comrade gives me grave misgivings. If 
you were a child of God you would speak 
more kindly of a fellow mortal for whom 
88 


THE PRODIGAL’S RETURN 


Christ died as He died for you. You would 
not say that anyone can be too good and 
pure to take interest in one of God’s crea- 
tures who was redeemed by the blood of 
Jesus and at whose repentance the angels 
of heaven would rejoice. . 

So wrote Brita Reiner, and Helmer un- 
derstood that her heart had been w-ounded 
by the uncharitable judgment he had 
passed on himself. The one fact that she 
did not give him up for lost after all that 
she had been told gave him the strength 
for his own uplift. Was it true, as Brita 
wrote, that such as he had any worth in 
the sight of God and The angels? This 
w^as to him a new and marvelous thought, 
which he was unable to dismiss from his 
mind. It convinced him that it was worth 
his while to seek salvation, that he had a 
right to avail -himself of Christ’s redemp- 
tion, that there was hope for him after all. 
That world of purity and light to which 
he was being drawn by Brita’s admoni- 
tions, yielding the more readily to her in- 
fluence by his reawakened longing for 
89 


THE CASTAWAY 


better things, and from which he had 
thought himself irrevocably shut out, now 
seemed to open its gates to him, and he 
saw his opportunity to reenter. 

Brita’s touching words, in her last letter 
to Charles Storm, about her friend from 
childhood, went straight to Helmer’s heart 
and accomplished what her first little note 
had set out to do. The prodigal in foreign 
parts was made to see and feel his own 
baseness and depravity. He arose and 
came to his Father. 

After that he found it impossible to 
write to Brita under his assumed name. 
At first he determined to reveal his iden- 
tity by letter, but he thought better of it 
and concluded to do so in person. He would 
soon be relieved at Hamburg, and thanks 
to his improved habits of life he had so 
bettered himself financially that he could 
well afford a trip back home before hiring 
out on another vessel. He started for 
Sweden with plans still unsettled. What 
he would do after visiting the old home 
depended entirely on Brita Reiner. 


VIII. IN THE HOME OF THE 
MERCHANT PRINCE. 


RIG BRANNING sat in his private 
office engaged in writing, when 
the door opened and a clerk an- 
nounced that a plain man wished to see 
him on strictly private business. 

‘'Well, show him in,” said the busy mer- 
chant; “I know all about these ‘strictly 
private’ fellows.” 

But the man* who entered was not one 
of the nervy beggars he had expected. 
His clothes were plain and somewhat 
threadbare at the edges, but he bore him- 
self as a gentleman. It was in fact Eric 
Branning’s own brother. 

“Well, Eric, here I am,” was Helmer’s 
simple greeting. “I don’t think you will 
need to be ashamed of me now, just so you 
will forget ” 



91 



THE CASTAWAY 


Eric quickly rose and extended his hand, 
meanwhile fixing a keen look upon his 
brother's face. His search must have re- 
sulted favorably, for the merchant's stern 
look softened and his tense demeanor gave 
way to all the kindliness the hard face of 
the man of affairs was capable of ex- 
pressing. 

^T am very glad to see you home again," 
he said. “And sober too." He could not 
forget their last meeting. “Take a seat, 
Helmer, and let us talk. My time is pretty 
well taken up, 'tis true, but to find a long 
lost brother is an occasion too rare to pass 
lightly by." 

Helmer sat down. 

“When I think of how you found me 
last, it is a surprise to me to see yoii re- 
ceive me so kindly," said Helmer cordially. 

“Let us forget the past — from now on," 
Eric suggested, rather flattered at his own 
magnanimity. “Let us talk about the 
future. You intend to leave the sea and 
live like an honest man nov/, I take it." 

92 


HOME OF THE MERCHANT PRINCE 


“That I have no intention to do — that 
is, to leave the sea,'’ asserted Helmer, 
slightly stung by his brother’s insinuation 
against seafaring as an honest mode of 
living. “I could never feel at home on 
land any more, but I hope to remain an 
honest man nevertheless. I am thinking 
of taking examination for a captaincy, if 
I can make it.” 

“If you can make it,” Eric repeated 
with a benevolent and somewhat self- 
satisfied smile. “What would hinder you ?” 

“Well, several things. Lack of money 
in the first place.” 

“I thought so. How do you propose to 
get around that?” 

Helmer stared at the floor while he bat- 
tled with his own feelings. The self-con- 
scious and superior way in which the 
brother proffered his assistance made it 
odious to a proud and defiant spirit like 
Helmer’s. He conquered himself, fortu- 
nately, and proceeded calmly : 

“I once promised never to trouble you 
93 


THE CASTAWAY 


again after I had made an end of what I 
had coming from our joint estate. That 
promise I will keep, if you so desire. Oth- 
erwise, should I try for the captaincy, I 
would be very thankful for a little timely 
assistance. I will repay you the money 
without fail, if I live and get work. — 
Will you help me?"' 

Eric, accustomed to the cringing atti- 
tude of suppliants before men of wealth, 
had not expected so manly and direct a 
request. The petition in the very inde- 
pendence of its tone implied that the peti- 
tioner was well prepared for a refusal. 

^‘What is your security?’’ Eric inquired, 
as if determined to make his brother feel 
the full force of his subserviency. 

‘'Security — do you demand that? I 
have no man to go my bond,” replied Hel- 
mer with a look so honest and determined 
that it might well have been taken in full 
security. 

Possibly Eric so construed it, and again, 
perhaps he saw in his brother’s open 
94 


HOME OF THE MERCHANT PRINCE 


declaration an abject confession of his 
economic and social inferiority. Be this 
as it may, the magnate promised his im- 
pecunious brother a loan without interest 
and without security. He was moved to 
so noble and so unusual an act chiefly by 
a secret consciousness of having at the 
time of settlement given Helmer too small 
a sum for his share in their common 
estate. Here, was an excellent opportu- 
nity for settling an old and irritating 
obligation without the humility of own- 
ing up to it. 

The agreement concluded, Eric excused 
himself for the press of business matters 
and dismissed his brother with a cordial 
invitation to dinner the same day, when 
they might talk at their leisure. 

“One thing more,” he warned at part- 
ing, “I would prefer you would not men- 
tion our meeting in France. I have men- 
tioned it to no one for fear it would only 
have given certain persons added concern 
for your welfare.” 


95 


THE CASTAWAY 


The main reason for his silence he did 
not state, and Helmer, although suspect- 
ing the motive, showed no sign of secret 
comprehension as he cheerfully gave the 
promise exacted by Eric. 

Lady Branning was not a little per- 
turbed when her husband rang her up and 
told her whom to expect for dinner. What 
did this mean? Helmer, so long gone and 
apparently lost in the traceless sea, now 
suddenly bobbing up again? Had he re- 
turned to stir up their past? What sort 
of man would she find him? An addi- 
tional source of worry was the fact that 
she had already invited several friends for 
dinner that evening. This she had a habit 
of doing, unbeknown to her husband, so 
he never knew when he might come home 
from his office and find the house full of 
guests. He was not in love with this idea 
of hers, but that had never bothered her 
until now that she found it leading to in- 
convenience and conflicting plans. Would 
Helmer behave in such a way that she 
96 


HOME OF THE MERCHANT PRINCE 


would not have to feel ashamed before the 
other guests? This one problem irritated 
her nerves all that day. But there was no 
way out, so the intelligent hostess simply 
nerved herself to the task before her. 

When Helmer entered the drawing room 
of the Brannings shortly before the hour 
set, no one could have inferred from Elsa’s 
manner that she was not overjoyed at the 
return of her brother-in-law and the in- 
stant opportunity to introduce him to her 
friends. Not expecting to meet other 
guests, Helmer, however, was somewhat 
taken aback and had difficulty in conceal- 
ing his displeasure at the surprise. He 
wondered why Eric had made no mention 
of this and whispered the question in the 
host’s ear at the first chance. 

‘‘Well, to be frank, I knew nothing of it 
myself,” he explained, showing his dis- 
taste for the affair while apparently re- 
signed to his wife’s arrangement as a 
matter of course. 

Of Eric’s success in life Helmer had seen 
97 


The Castaway. 7. 


THE CASTAWAY 


some evidence at their last meeting at the 
French summer resort, and still more that 
morning while visiting his business office, 
but not until now, in Eric’s magnificent 
home, at his Lucullian table, together with 
his elegant and refined inner circle of 
friends, was he able to guage the extent 
of his brother’s wealth and influence. He 
looked at Eric as in a trance. True, this 
was his brother, and yet not the same as 
in former days. About Elsa, too, there 
was to him an appearance of strangeness. 
In all her vivacity and charm of person 
there was no trace of that former spell 
which held him captive. 

Lady Elsa Branning was an ideal host- 
ess. Expert in the science of providing 
dainty dishes for the generous board, she 
was no less accomplished in the finer art 
of conducting the conversation along in- 
telligent lines and lending it flavor by her 
own refined wit. This particular evening 
the dinner party was made up of men of 
views ranging all the way from liberal- 
98 


HOME OF THE MERCHANT PRINCE 


mindedness to rationalism. Every one was 
free to speak his mind. Helmer listened 
in silence, puzzled and shocked by turns. 
Godlessness he had seen much of, blasphe- 
mies were familiar to the sailor’s ears, all 
this of the rough, sordid type; but here 
was a sort of infidelity new to him: men 
and women of culture and refinement sit- 
ting in judgment of things high and holy, 
and rendering an ignorant and partisan 
verdict. In this company Elsa was the life 
and soul, while Eric with seeming uncon- 
cern listened to all that was said. 

'‘You look scandalized, Mr. Branning,” 
some one said.' “What is your opinion of 
this new religion?” 

All eyes were fixed on Helmer, who felt 
that his face flushed. 

“I know nothing of any new religion,” 
he answered briefly. 

“Do you know anything about the old 
one?” a little lady butted in with fetching 
pertness. 

Helmer would have preferred a hard 
99 


THE CASTAWAY 


set-to with a storm at sea to an intellectual 
tilt with this crowd of radicals and agnos- 
tics. Still he felt challenged to defend his 
new-found faith, and he was no coward. 
So he turned his clear eyes upon the fair 
questioner and said : 

''Yes, this much I know, that if anything 
can save a drowning man and put his feet 
on a rock, it is the old religion of Christ, 
the Saviour of sinners.'^ 

In the silence that followed the face of 
the hostess colored. She hastened to turn 
the table-talk into a new channel. Hel- 
mer felt guilty of a grave breach against 
the accepted code of good manners. 


. Shortly after dinner the other guests 
departed, leaving Helmer alone with his 
host and hostess. 

"Oh, what a relief to have them out of 
the way!” Elsa exclaimed, adding with a 
laugh, when she saw Helmer’s surprised 
look, "I enjoy to have them, but had I 


100 


HOME OF THE MERCHANT PRINCE 


known of your coming, I should have 
asked them here some other time/' 

‘‘Then you were ashamed of me?" 

“By no means, but we could have met 
and talked with you at ease, without all 
those irrelevant witnesses. Now, Helmer, 
sit down here and tell me everything 
you've gone through." 

He obeyed, but felt no desire to confide 
his experiences to his hostess. She was 
not to be trusted, he suspected. Who of 
all these people that had just been the ob- 
jects of her charming attentions thought 
for an instant that they had been mere 
intruders ? 

“There's not much to be said about me," 
said Helmer modestly. “I've sailed the 
seven seas; I've visited most of the great 
seaports of the world; I've had a pretty 
rough time of it, off and on, that's all. But 
how you and Eric have fared these years 
would make a much better story, I im- 
agine." 

“Oh, we have, managed fairly well," 
101 


THE CASTAWAY 


spoke Elsa with an air of self-deprecia- 
tion. “Eric is over his ears in business 
day by day, while I go in for social pleas- 
ure, so you see we do not often get into 
each other’s way and have few interests in 
common.” 

Helmer hardly knew how to construe 
her meaning. Did she speak seriously or 
in jest? He felt perplexed and out of 
place, as most persons do in having the 
differences of married people confided to 
them. 

“Do you spend the summers together at 
Bergdale?” he hazarded in an effort to 
change the subject. 

“No, Bergdale was sold years ago,” in- 
formed Elsa. 

The news was apparently distasteful to 
Helmer. 

The telephone rang; Eric was wanted, 
so Elsa was left alone with the guest. 

“I never would have thought Eric capa- 
ble of that,” he said. 


102 


HOME OF THE MERCHANT PRINCE 


''And why not? It was a very profitable 
transaction/' she assured him. 

"I thought he was too much attached to 
the old home to let it go out of his hands." 

"Why should he be more attached to it 
than you were?" Elsa queried with a sig- 
nificant smile. 

"Well, there were reasons." 

"Wasn't it just as bad for you to leave 
Bergdale as for Eric to sell it?" she pur- 
sued, feeling that she had a little the better 
of the argument. 

Helmer made no reply. He wondered 
whether Elsa was really ignorant of the 
true cause for his leaving home, or wheth- 
er she simply feigned ignorance. 

"Now, Helmer, you must tell me some- 
thing about yourself, whether you like it 
or not," she urged. "I want to know what 
your plans are, how long you expect to re- 
main in Stockholm, and all that," she add- 
ed, with a show of intense interest in him, 
as in former days. 

/'My plans are very unsettled as yet. 

103 


THE CASTAWAY 


This time my stay here will be very short. 
I leave Stockholm to-morrow morning.” 

''Where do you go from here?” she ques- 
tioned with a curious glint in her eye, 
which made Helmer loath to answer, 
though he found no escape. 

"I want to see some of my old friends, 
so I am going out to my old home.” 

"Aha, to Craneycroft, then! Give my 
very best regards to old Lady Crane, if she 
still remembers her willful companion of 
bygone days. And be sure to remember 
me to little Brita Reiner, if you see her.” 

"Certainly. I intend to look them up, 
every one,” said Helmer, somewhat 
troubled at his own abrupt tone. It gave 
him a physical shock to hear Elsa mention 
the name of Brita in that insinuating tone. 
There was something degrading about it, 
he fancied. 

After taking tea with Elsa and Eric 
later in the evening, Helmer left his broth- 
er's house with a sense of oppression. 
Opulence there was indeed in that home, 
104 


HOME OF THE MERCHANT PRINCE 


but no true happiness. Whose fault was 
it? Or were they both to blame? He saw 
full well that Elsa and Eric had had no 
favorable influence on one another. His 
brother was most to be pitied, he thought, 
and with a pang of conscience he recalled 
the white lie with which he himself had 
reconciled the two and made them one. 
He now found that he had given irrepara- 
ble injury to both and owed a great debt 
to Eric in particular. For him to have 
owned to his bbligation to both of them 
for his past offense would have served no 
good purpose. All that he could do was 
to pray for them and seek to rectify his 
error by telling them the truth henceforth. 


• 105 


IX. AN ILL-MATED PAIR. 


H OW he has changed for the bet- 
ter!’’ exclaimed Elsa when Hel- 
mer was gone and she was again 
alone with her husband. 

“Why, he is very much like himself,” 
Eric insisted. 

“Indeed not; there’s a vast difference,” 
Elsa maintained. 

“Well, yes, in a way. He is much older 
and a great deal poorer,” Eric conceded. 

“That is not all,” said Elsa, disappoint- 
ed at her husband’s lack of perspicacity. 

“What other change have you found in 
him, if I may ask?” 

“Well, if you couldn’t see it, it would be 
futile for me to try to explain.” 

“Oh, I am no Idiot,” Eric cut in, feeling 
irritated at his wife’s implied scorn for 
106 




AN ILL-MATED PAIR 


his intelligence. ''Go on with your expla- 
nation, if you "have one.” 

"He is changed through and through. 
His inner self has undergone a com- 
plete ” 

Eric cut her off. 

"So you looked through him and saw 
his inner self,” he mocked. "I saw only 
the surface, and I am glad to say there 
was a marked change in his appearance. 
He seems determined to make a man of 
himself, after all, to get a new start and 
become a useful member ot society.” 

"You always do take such a businesslike 
view of things. Have you no other than 
mercenary demands or requirements?” 

"Oh yes; just now I require sleep,” 
yawned Eric rudely. 

She regarded him with manifest an- 
tipathy. Never before had she seen so 
plainly what a base, incorrigible material- 
ist her husband was. 

< 

"You have sold your soul for gold,” she 
flung at him. 


107 


THE CASTAWAY 


‘Tf so, I know one who was not opposed 
to that bargain, was his sharp retort. 

The point of the remark went home, but 
she feigned indifference. 

'‘Helmer is an idealist. Helmer, whom 
you look down upon, is a better man than 
you are by a thousand times.” 

''Why, then, didn't you choose him in- 
stead of me? Now it is too late to make 
the change,” parried Eric with the most 
aggravating indifference. 

Elsa stared at him in an effort to dis- 
cover the sinister meaning in his words. 

Eric rose to retire. 

"Good night,” he said dryly. "I'll now 
leave you to dream undisturbed about 
your lost paradise.” 

He withdrew. Left alone in the room, 
Elsa sat for a moment in silence, then 
went over to a window and leaned close to 
the leaded glass to look up at the starlit 
sky. In her wrought up state she fancied 
herself a prisoner behind confining bars. 


108 


AN ILL-MATED PAIR 


though the bars were of gold. But this 
sort of life was of her own choosing, why, 
then, should she complain? She had just 
lectured her husband for having bartered 
his soul for money. Had not she done the 
same? Had not she purchased a com- 
fortable existence with her own person as 
the price, and then strived to make her 
own life one of opulence and luxury by 
spurring her husband’s money-making 
propensity to the utmost? Had she ever 
sought to stay his mercenary ambition? 
Was it all his own fault that he had yield- 
ed wholly to the lure of gold? 

That night Elsa fully realized for the 
first time her own guilt in the matter, and 
it filled her with dismay. 

At that moment Helmer lay on his knees 
in fervent prayer for Eric and Elsa, that 
their eyes might be opened in time. 


109 


X. SNUG HARBOR. 


RESSED in a big white apron, and 
with her sleeves rolled up, Brita 
Reiner sat paring fruit for pre- 
serving. Her brothers and sisters were 
in school, while her father, the forester, 
was roaming the woods, gun on arm, ac- 
companied by his pointer. The forester's 
lodge lay in quiet seclusion, basking in the 
August sun. But the girl's thoughts were 
not in keeping with the peaceful surround- 
ings. A long time had passed without a 
letter from Charles Storm, and every day 
of waiting added to her worry. As she 
sat at her work, the thought of his failure 
to write came strongly upon her, ruffling 
her placid mind to an unusual degree. 
Had he taken offense at the contents of her 
last missive, she asked herself. Recalling 
what she had written, she found it direct 
110 



SNUG HARBOR 


and to the point, but not offensively sharp. 
So he must have simply grown tired of 
keeping up the correspondence, or — she 
shuddered at the thought — could he have 
been lost at sea? 

She had hoped to learn something fur- 
ther of Helmer, but by the sudden stop- 
page of interchange with the unknown 
sailor that hope, too, had gone by the 
board. 

Could it be true, that about Helmer’s 
reckless career ? Possibly all had not been 
told, pondered Brita, for if Helmer was at 
all like himself, he must have become a 
great chum of Charles, for the two seemed 
to her to have many things in common. 

Oh, where might her two seafaring 
friends be now? Were they still among 
the travelers on life's turbulent sea? If 
so, did they steer a true course, guided by 
the beacon light of divine truth, or were 
they drifting on to the shoals and breakers 
ot unbelief? The girl breathed a silent 
prayer for the two. 

Ill 


THE CASTAWAY 


Suddenly she looked up from her bowl 
of fruit with a distinct sensation that she 
was being observed. 

A little way off stood a tall, brown-faced 
stranger mutely watching her. 

What did this mean? Had her faith 
proved so strong, her prayer so efficacious, 
that the very one who was in her thoughts 
had been miraculously transported from 
afar and now stood bodily before her? 
Her heart stopped for an instant and the 
rosy cheeks turned pale. 

The man mistook the cause. Thinking 
that he had frightened the girl, he spoke at 
once : 

“DonT be afraid, Brita ! It's Helmer. 
Don’t you know me ?” 

Her whitened cheeks again turned red. 
She extended her hand, then suddenly 
withdrew it, mindful of the fruit juice on 
her fingers. 

Again he misunderstood. 

‘^Ah, you will not let me press your 
hand. I might have expected this.” He 
112 


SNUG HARBOR 


looked at her with the despair of a cast- 
away watching a disappearing ship that 
failed to notice his signals for help. 

Then Brita had to smile, and out came 
the dimple in her left cheek. 

''Certainly I will, but my hand was so 
smeary 

"Oh, was that all?’" His face lit up in- 
stantly, as he grasped the little hand and 
pressed it warmly between his own. 

Brita had sat on the stairway landing 
by the kitchen door. She resumed her 
place, and Helmer seated himself on the 
step next below. They talked of old times 
and old friends, and of all that had passed 
since they last met. The heart of the girl 
was all aflutter, and fumbling with the 
paring-knife she chanced to cut a small 
slit in her thumb. She made light of the 
wound, but Helmer insisted it ought to be 
cared for. "Small sores and poor friends 
should not be neglected,^^ he quoted. 

"Well, ril put on some collodium, then,'' 
she said, smiling at his solicitous concern. 

113 


The Castaway. 8. 


THE CASTAWAY 


As she rose he anticipated her, offering 
to fetch the preparation. 

"‘You will find the bottle on the top shelf 
of the whatnot in the corner of my room,” 
she directed. 

‘‘The same room you always occcupied?” 
he asked. 

‘Tes.” 

^‘Then Til find it all right.” 

He disappeared into the house. A room * 
long occupied takes on somewhat of the 
character of its occupant. When Helmer 
peeped into the girFs chamber, it seemed 
like a glimpse into the inner recesses of 
her being. He hesitated. What right had 
he to enter this little sanctuary of maiden- 
hood? 

There were tones of white and pale blue 
everywhere, and an air of purity and home 
cheer pervaded this fresh, sunny, peaceful 
chamber. His heart warmed as he scanned 
each object with a look of mingled admira- 
tion and tenderness. He had well-nigh 
forgotten his errand when his eyes fell on 
114 


SNUG HARBOR 


the corner bracket. He walked reverently 
across the room, took the bottle from the 
shelf and returned with guarded step. 
Turning at the door, he cast a parting 
glance into the daintily plain little cham- 
ber before descending to the floor below. 

Returning to Brita, he took her hand 
and dressed her slight injury tenderly and 
with the air of a physician treating a very 
serious case. Britans admiration for his 
skill brought a tardy smile to his lips. 

‘‘At sea we are all Handy Andys,’^ he 
said. “You ought to see me handle needle 
and thread.’’ 

She laughed at the suggestion, secretly 
doubting his ability to do any clever 
needlework with those big, brown, homy 
hands. 

“Well, I know sailors do sew,” she ad- 
mitted, “for I have had something to do 
with sending out little handy bags or 
‘housewives’ to the seaman’s missions for 
them.” 

“I have seen some of those things. The 
115 


THE CASTAWAY 


boys would sometimes find little notes 
from the makers concealed in some 
pocket/' 

'‘Yes, Tve sent some myself, and got re- 
plies, too." 

“It would be interesting to learn who 
answered, in case I should happen to know 
any of them." 

“One was Charles Storm. Did you ever 
meet him ?" 

“Charles Storm," he repeated, as though 
searching his memory. “Let ma think, 
what sort of a fellow was he ?" 

“Of course I can't know how he looks, 
but from his letters I infer that he is a 
manly and likable person and a great lover 
of the sea." 

“Did he write more than once ?" 

“Yes, we exchanged letters for quite a 
while." 

“And then you stopped writing?" 

“I got no reply to my last letter, and 
then there was no way of reaching him," 
she explained with evident regret. “I am 
116 


SNUG HARBOR 


afraid something has happened to him.” 

‘‘Do you miss those letters a great 
deal?” 

“Yes, very much indeed.” 

“Have you kept any of them ?” 

“Yes, I have them all.” 

Keeping her eyes fixed on her work, 
after the lesson she had just learnt, Brita 
did not notice how intensely Helmer 
watched her. 

“Maybe you^d rather Charles Storm 
sat here in my place?” he twitted her 
roguishly. 

“I can't tell you how much I’d like to 
meet him,” she owned with girlish frank- 
ness. 

All that she had suffered on Helmer’s 
account, equally with her feelings for the 
unknown Charles Storm, caused her to 
make an open confession of her attach- 
ment. Womanly pride, too, combined in 
forcing it from her. She felt entitled to 
redress for the years of heart-ache caused 
by Helmer’s lack of responsiveness to her 
117 


THE CASTAWAY 


ardent affection, the more as he could now 
sit there calmly analyzing her feelings for 
another man. 

At first, Brita was overjoyed at meeting 
Helmer once again. Now her heart sank. 
However, she would not let this opportu- 
nity pass: he should be made to under- 
stand that another had replaced him in her 
affections. 

“You confess a pretty warm interest in 
a man whom you have never seen,” Hel- 
mer remarked. 

“If you could read his letters, you would 
understand the reason why,” she replied. 

The glowing terms in which she spoke 
of her unseen friend constantly increased 
the strain on Helmer's feelings. He was 
flushed with suspense. What would she 
think when she learnt of his stratagem ? 

“Do you recognize this?” he asked, 
drawing from his pocket her first little 
note. The sheet was so worn in the folds 
that it barely hung together. 

She seized it, — looked at it, — looked 
118 


SNUG HARBOR 


at Helmer. What could this mean? Her 
first suspicion was that it had come into 
his hands by chance. Her second, that the 
recipient had given it to him. She fiushed 
with anger at the thought of having her 
missives treated so lightly. Her indigna- 
tion changed to dismay as Helmer drew 
forth another letter, her last one, convey- 
ing greetings to himself. 

have them all, Brita. Now you un- 
derstand, he said. 

‘"Oh, Helmer, was it you?** she ex- 
claimed with ^n impetuosity that quickly 
subsided into passive modesty. 

So it was with Helmer she had been 
corresponding! And what had she been 
saying to him just now, about his letters 
and himself ! The very moment when she 
thought her feelings securely masked, she 
had herself betrayed the secret of her 
heart. Undone, and yet quickened by 
sweet anticipation, she turned away with 
a blush of modesty. 


119 


THE CASTAWAY 


Her mingled emotions were beyond Hel- 
mer's comprehension. 

‘'Brita, forgive me for playing this cruel 
game/’ he pleaded penitently. She stood 
silent. ‘Tt was a base deception, I con- 
fess, but do not judge me too harshly,” he 
went on. ‘Tt could not do you any harm, 
I reckoned, while for me — oh, if you 
could but know what your letters meant 
to me! Then you would surely forgive.” 

‘T do forgive you, Helmer,” faltered 
Brita, now that she saw the matter from 
his point of view. Turning halfway to- 
ward him, she forgot her o’wn awkward 
plight when she saw the helpless figure 
he made as he resumed: 

“Brita, are you very sorry it is I and 
not ‘Charley Storm’? Can’t you forget 
him and think a wee bit of me?” 

His serio-comic look and the grim hu- 
mor of the situation made an irresistible 
appeal. When he came over and took her 
hand, still sticky from handling the pears. 


120 


SNUG HARBOR 


she yielded it willingly. He held it firmly 
— and long. 

‘"Brita/^ he spoke in a low tone of in- 
finite tenderness, ''you know I haye been 
drifting. How near I was to complete 
shipwreck in life you cannot know. But 
now I am in the right course, thanks to 
you and the guidance of Him who is the 
Lord of land 'and sea and whose Spirit 
moves upon the face of the waters. Brita, 
pray, dare you — will you sail life’s ocean 
with me from now on?” 

Brita dared and would. Never once was 
she given cause ’to regret the step. 


121 





ROBIN GOODFELLOW 

BY 


MATHILDA ROOS 




N the east slope of the mountain lay 
the isolated village of Valbo. Above 
it frowned the scarred features of 
the great fjeld, but lying far below the 
tree line, it was separated from the barren 
region by a dense, dark forest. 

The people in Valbo were prosperous 
and stubbornly independent. For several 
centuries the houses of the village and 
the outlying farms had passed from father 
to son. The fields yielded grain in plenty, 
and up the green mountain slopes were 
extensive wild lands, where the Valbo 
peasants pastured their cattle, sheep, and 
goats all summer. 

It was late one bright autumn evening. 
The full moon silvered the crests and ridg- 
es of the mountain, girded about with the 
dark belt of forest, while in the broad val- 
ley below, the river, falling in successive 
cataracts, throbbed out the pulse beats of 
nature in the great silence. 

125 




ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


Most of the villagers had retired for 
the night, but few lights still gleaming 
faintly through the little windows. Across 
the road that wormed its way between the 
two rows of houses the moonlight fell clear 
and bright, offsetting clearcut shadows of 
houses, trees, gables, and chimneys on the 
graveled surface. Under cover of the 
shadows, a little figure, about a foot high, 
with a long, flowing white beard, and a 
red, pointed hood drawn tightly over his 
head, stole silently along the dark side of 
the village street. It was none other than 
Robin Goodfellow, who was making his 
rounds, seeing to it that all was in good 
order in his particular bailiwick. He was 
a favorite in Valbo, for all believed their 
good fortune and well-being due in large 
part to the care and supervision of the 
little old man. 

They knew that he wished them all well. 
From time out of mind he had dwelt 
among the villagers of Valbo. From father 
to son was handed down the tradition that 
the mysterious little goblin was responsi- 
ble for their material prosperity, home 
comfort, and domestic happiness. It was 
supposed to be due to him that their gran- 
126 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


aries and lofts were filled from year to 
year, that the cows gave an abundance of 
milk, that calves and pigs survived and 
grew fat, yielding profit to their owners. 

It was the general understanding that if 
Robin Goodfellow should take offense and 
disappear, and the little gray-beard should 
never again be seen busying himself about 
the barns and haylofts and store-houses, 
that would forebode evil times for the vil- 
lagers. Hence young and old were careful 
to make him feel at home. At Christ- 
mas and Easter it was the invariable cus- 
tom to set a dish of porridge for him in 
some hidden corner; they never would, 
throw out scalding water for fear he might 
happen to be prowling around their thresh- 
old; and when they finished their meals 
they were in the habit -of leaving on their 
plates ''a bite for Robin Goodfellow.” 

When the little gray-beard reached the 
barnyard of Lars-Anders and looked in at 
the door, there was a satisfied mooing here 
and there in the stalls, and the cat came 
suddenly out of the dark, stroking his sides 
against the legs of his goblin friend, while 
the chickens slept on their roosts undis- 


127 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


turbed but for the needless warning of a 
watchful cockerel. 

The little old man gave a satisfied nod as 
he stood in the doorway surveying the 
peaceful scene, then closed the door and 
proceeded on his tour of supervision. 

Before passing the cottage of Claus- 
Peter, he raised himself on tiptoe ' and 
peered through a low window. The flames 
were still dancing merrily in the fireplace 
within. Claus-Peter himself was already 
asleep in the big, wide bed in the living 
room, where his wife and daughters were 
still at work spinning woolen yarn by the 
dim light of the hearth. One of the girls 
was singing as she span : 

The full moon shines adown the glen. 
And silence rules the abodes of men. 

When evening falls, with gloom and mist. 
Abide with us, O Jesus Christ. 

The little old man smiled and blew a 
sharp whiif against the windowpane, caus- 
ing a slight rattle of the sash. 

'‘What was thatr’ exclaimed the house- 
wife. “Didn’t you hear something at the 
window?” 

“I reckon it was Robin Goodfellow look- 
128 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


ing in,” said one of the girls. ‘'He might 
want something to eat.” So saying, she 
rose from her spinning-wheel and putting 
a portion of porridge left over from sup- 
per on a dish, set it on the doorstep out- 
side. 

“God bless the little man,” said the 
mistress. “It has always been his custom 
to go around and see that the lights are 
out and everything set to rights for the 
night. We had better go to bed now.” 

The women put their spinning-wheels 
aside, and soon all were sound asleep in 
Claus-Peter’s cottage. 

But the good little goblin continued his 
nightly round, fueling of locks and shut- 
ters, peeping through chinks and cracks, 
investigating mangers and feed troughs to 
see that none of the domestic animals had 
been overlooked, and if he found some 
hired man or weary maid-servant who had 
dropped asleep forgetting to put out the 
candle light, he would knock at the door or 
the window until they suddenly started up 
and snuffed out the candle, fearing the 
householder himself had discovered their 
wastefulness. 

When Robin Gnodfellow had assured 
129 


The Castaway. 9. 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 

himself that all were asleep in Valbo 
and everything was in good order, he 
hastened up the mountain side to visit an 
uncle of his who was living in the dark 
forest. He followed a steep path, and his 
face was lit up with contentment as he 
tripped along in the moonlight as nimbly 
as any mortal a fraction of his age might 
have done. He was thinking of the vil- 
lagers of Valbo, and how well all had 
turned out for these farmers in the past 
season, — all the grain harvested with- 
out a drop of rain on it; the haymows 
propped to the ridge of the roof ; bins and 
cellars and larders filled, and money over 
from the sale of colts and calves, and pigs 
for Christmas fattening. 

They all liked him, and he did his best 
to increase their prosperity and content- 
ment. Many there were, he knew, who 
thought him an evil-minded little elf, and 
others who did not believe he existed at all, 
laughing to scorn the simple-minded folk 
who still had faith in his tribe. 

As the good little goblin was tripping 
along the path, gazing up into the benign 
face of his old friend the moon, who was 
looking down through the all but leafless 
130 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


boughs of the aspen trees, he failed to 
notice a trap , set right in his path. It was 
meant for the large game birds of the 
forest, for which the villagers of Valbo 
had a decided predilection, whether the 
game was in season or not. As he passed 
under the end of a log, he accidentally re- 
leased the trap, and the log fell, breaking 
his leg and holding his crushed foot as in 
a vice. 

The little fellow set up a cry of agony, 
which echoed through the dark recesses of 
the forest and then subsided into a pitiful 
plaint. He strained himself to the utmost 
to lift the log or roll it over, but it would 
not budge. To pull at the limb gave him 
unendurable pain; so there was nothing 
for him to do but to lie there for hours 
and hours, suffering indescribable tor- 
tures. 

The hours of the chilly autumn night 
crawled by at a snail's pace. After mid- 
night even the cheering face of the moon 
was hidden by dark clouds. The forest 
grew dismally dark, and the silence was 
ohly intensified by the occasional hooting 
of a night-owl. During these endless hours 
he lay there thinking of the intense suffer- 
131 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


ings of the game birds and other animals 
caught in snares and traps and left to die 
by inches during hours and days of agoniz- 
ing captivity. His heart went out in pity 
for all his feathered friends, the patridges, 
the mountain grouse, the heath-cocks, the 
white grouse, the black cock of the woods, 
all of which were being hunted and 
trapped for a bit of flesh to tickle the 
palate of men who had food in plenty. He 
reflected on their gay flight over the snowy 
fields or their whirring course over the 
tree-tops, when the murderous shot sud- 
denly rings out and they fall dead to earth 
or flutter downward on broken wing, often 
to suffer indefinitely until relieved by 
death. He realized now their dreadful 
plight when snared or trapped while light- 
ly hopping about in woodland haunts or 
running along their customary trails. 

Then Robin Goodfellow’s thoughts 
turned again to the villagers of Valbo, for 
whom he had done so many good turns. 
The kindness turned to bitterness as he 
thought of how they were sleeping com- 
fortably in their beds while he lay up here 
in the woods suffering all the pains and 
agonies endured by myriad other creatures 
132 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


before him, though the silent fields and 
forests never betrayed their hideous 
secrets. The face of the little old man 
with the gray beard and the kindly eyes, 
so shortly before beaming with tenderness, 
now bespoke naught but evil and revenge 
as he shook his clenched fist in the direc- 
tion of the village below. 

Morning dawned over the forest. The 
weird call of the owls was heard no more, 
but now and then some belated song bird 
trilled out a cheerful note, while the wood- 
pecker drummed resounding flourishes on 
the murky stems of dead trees. From the 
east came a red glare that soon flamed up 
into a brilliant sunrise. This was the hour 
when goblins and their ilk were supposed 
to have slunk away into their hiding- 
places. 

Lo, the first notes of the herdswoman’s 
morning song resounded near by. The 
poor captive trembled with pain and cold. 
He must get away before he was dis- 
covered and, possibly, made a prisoner for 
life, by one of his former friends. So he 
fell to turning and twisting and jerking, 
and at lengt^i with a violent movement 
wrenched his limb from under the log, 
133 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


leaving the bleeding foot pinned fast in 
the jaws of the trap. With a howl of pain 
he extricated himself and hopped on one 
leg over to some large rocks forming a 
covert into which he disappeared after 
clenching his fist once more at the village 
of Valbo, where the chanticleers were just 
now crowing to greet the rising sun. 

Since that day Robin Goodfellow was 
never again seen in the village of Valbo. 
One of the farmers is said to have found 
a small human-like foot in his trap, and 
the villagers feared he had eventually been 
caught and killed in some snare. Two 
girls who one evening at dusk passed the 
huge rocks where Robin Goodfellow hid 
himself claimed that they heard distinctly 
some one whining pitifully, '‘Oh, my foot, 
— my foot!’’ By and by the clump of 
boulders became known as the Goblin 
Rocks. 

Many years have now passed since the 
people of the mountain village of Valbo 
saw a glimpse of Robin Goodfellow. With 
him their prosperity and happiness dis- 
appeared. 

* * 

This story was told to me by Claus-Peter 
134 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 

■ j. 

of Valbo, the oldest inhabitant, a pious 
old man, the grandson of the well-to-do 
farmer by that name who lived in Robin 
Goodfellow's time. 

“A strange story, indeed,’' said I when 
the old villager had finished his tale. 
“Your grandfather, I suppose, often saw 
the good little goblin?” 

“I should think he did — any number 
of times,” said Claus-Peter, as he took the 
pipe out of his mouth and emptied out the 
ashes by knocking it against his hard knee- 
cap. 

“Grandfather and the goblin always 
were such great friends; but the trouble 
nowadays is,” h.e added regretfully, “that 
folks don’t believe in goblins and things.” 

“Well, how about yourself, Claus-Peter? 
Do you believe in them?” I asked. 

The old man absent-mindedly drew an 
imaginary whiff of smoke from the empty 
pipe as he went on : 

“Well, I do, and then I don’t. When 
Pve been sitting like this in the gloaming 
Pd often fancy I saw the little gray-beard 
puttering around, carelessly showing the 
red tip of his hood sometimes or peeping 
at me with one eye around the corner. 

135 


ROBIN GOODFELLOW 


And then Fd be thinking something like 
this: Well, there’s better times coming 
for us in Valbo now. But of course they 
haven’t come just yet,” he added, looking 
regretfully around at the dilapidated dwel- 
lings, tumble-down barns, and roofless 
sheds of the one-time prosperous village. 
“You may believe it or not, but there’s a 
pinch of truth in the story after all. It 
teaches us folks to have a bit of pity for 
nature’s dumb creatures, even though 
we’ve got to live off of ’em, more or less. 
There can’t be any blessing on needless 
torturing of the little critters, nohow. I 
guess folks have got to pay for that, some 
way or another.” 

The old man sat pondering deeply for 
a moment or two, then added: 

“Besides, I reckon mebbe our folks up 
here in the mountains got to believing too 
much in Robin Goodfellow and too little 
in the good Lord.” 


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